Waves of Fate
by Rei Ronin
Summary: A swordsman, a pair of swords, and a prophecy come together to spell a new adventure for the Titans, especially Raven, as she's the only one who can understand the swordsman.
1. Storm Front

Waves of Fate

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A Teen Titans fanfiction

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"text": spoken English

"**text**": war cry, English

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

'text': sound effect

---

3 days ago:

Slade. It was always Slade. Him and some infernal plan of his. What did he have against the Titans, or better yet, why did he enjoy toying with them so? These thoughts and more raced through Robin's mind as he stalked across the deck of the container ship, bo in hand, hunting for Slade. He wanted it over with. A green panther padded softly behind him, fur matted with the torrential rain.

Robin pulled out his communicator. "Raven, Cy, have you two found anything?"

"Does rain count?" asked Cyborg, "Nothing but that and a lot of these boxes!"

"Fraid not." Robin closed the communicator and started moving again. _Damn Slade! And damn this rain! _he thought as the wind picked up and stinging droplets lashed his face.

---

'Cough.'

"You okay Raven?"

Raven sniffed. "I think I'm coming down with something. What I wouldn't do to get some time to meditate."

"After we're done here." Cyborg checked the readouts on his arm. "Bingo! Stolen military tech, ten meters to the left." He shifted one of his hands over to a laser rifle. "Call Robin and Starfire."

---

"We found it," Raven's voice crackled from the communicators.

"Right," said Robin. "Let's go." He turned to Beast Boy. "Anyway you can fly in this mess?"

"I can try, dude." He morphed into a pterodactyl and grabbed onto Robin's shoulders.

"TITANS! GO!"

---

It really didn't come as a surprise to Robin that the enemy was prepared for them. What did come as a surprise was the fact that it wasn't Slade. None of Slade's robots were milling about, preparing a counterattack.  Instead, there were a number of men armed with some of the goods from the attack on the military supplier. One of the men was even in an extremely well armed exo-suit. The centerpiece of their operation was a heavily armored transport chopper. Its open cargo area was loaded with metric tons of military-grade equipment. The chopper had to be stopped.

Thankfully, the thugs, while well-armed, were also very badly trained. The Titans blew right through them in a flurry of explosive discs, animal claw, laser blasts, obsidian magic, and emerald starbolts.

The exo-suit proved to be more of a problem. The arms on the machine came up and a pair of miniguns spat fire and lead at the Titans. The heroes scattered, bullets chewing apart the containers on the deck as the tracers chased them.

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

Spent casings tinkled as they fell like the rain that soaked the battlefield. Robin threw a fistful of discs at the combat suit, without even breaking stride.

'BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!"

The explosions scored the machine's armor with some carbon and rocked it a bit, but did no real damage.

'PWOOSH! BOOM!'

The return rocket's blast however, sent Robin flying. Starfire swooped in and caught him. She deposited him on the deck, still in fighting trim, and unleashed the fury of her starbolts on the Terran war suit.

'ZAK, ZAK, ZAK, ZAK, ZAK!'

The bolts, fueled by her righteous fury, blasted one of the miniguns to a smoldering wreckage. Then the other arm locked onto her.

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

The Tamaranian shrieked and flew away from the place she had been standing not a second before. If she had not moved, the spray of lead would have chopped her into hash.

Beast Boy tried next, jumping onto the windscreen in monkey form to blind the operator. An inordinately high amount of voltage run through the armored skin of his perch put the kibosh on this plan.

'ZZZAAP!'

"Ow." Beast Boy looked up in elf form to see the remaining minigun pointed right at him.

'TSSSSOW!'

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

The blast of Cyborg's arm cannon knocked the operator's aim off, the stream of lead ripping up the deck to Beast Boy's right. The exo-suit turned to Cyborg, missile tubes open.

"Oh shit."

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" The firing missiles ran into magic barriers at the ends of their launch tubes. The fuel cells ruptured under the impact, then cooked off, the warheads detonating sympathetically. The exo-suit ripped itself into debris.

'BUH-BOOM!'

None of the Titans spoke as they charged into the chopper. There wasn't time for a wasted breath. The chopper's engine was spooling up, and they could be damn sure that there would be more thugs aboard.

'Whuk-whuk-whuk-whuk-whuk.'

The cargo helicopter lifted off the deck and flew into the storm.

---

Robin and Cyborg burst into the cockpit, taking over forcibly from the two pilots/thugs. The helicopter wasn't hard to control, and they had plenty of altitude in which to screw up. Even better, they were headed straight for Jump City. The Titans took the seats and kept the aircraft on course.

---

The remaining three Titans had subdued the thugs in the hold by this time. But there were more than just average thugs there…

Beast Boy screamed as gleaming kunai shot out of the darkness and pinned him against the wall, the throwing blades stuck through the meat of his arms and legs, placed in such a way that morphing would result in a fatal injury.

Raven and Starfire spun to face the attacker, who stalked out of the shadows, a jitte gleaming in each hand. The jitte had been created specifically to fight the sword, but a master could use them as quite a deadly weapon. The man was dressed in rust-red bodysuit with more kunai adorning it, held ready under straps. He had blonde hair, and was disturbingly handsome. He also seemed to be wearing a parachute.

He had a friend as well, a well dressed man, holding a rapier. He also had a parachute on. He had black hair and a chiseled face.

Both men had smiles on their faces. The smiles of predators presented with prey.

---

It happened so fast. One second the rapier guy was standing ten feet away, and the next he was opening up a cut on her leg. Raven screamed in pain as her flesh parted under the razor-keen blade of the well-dressed man.

"I bid you, adieu." The man spun around, the hilt of his sword smashing into Raven's temple, robbing her of her consciousness and sending her flying out of the helicopter.

"RAVEN!" yelled Beast Boy from where he hung on the wall. "Starfire! Help her!"

Starfire was far too busy with the blonde man, who was closing in for the kill. She flung starbolts at him, but he simply deflected them with the jitte.

"Mon ami, we have not the time," said the well-dressed man, tapping his foot.

"Fine." The red-garbed man slung a kunai at Starfire, the blade hitting her in between a pair of her ribs. Non-lethal but decidedly painful. "Train up, Titans," he commanded in a mocking tone, "Or you won't be able to die with honor when we do decide to take your lives." The two men jumped out of the helicopter, parachutes blossoming as they fell, wafting them gently to the boat waiting for them.

---

Miles upon miles away, a motorcycle ran out of fuel.

_"Shimatta."___

---

A/N: Well, here is the prologue of the revised and renamed story. Hope you like. Please read and review.


	2. Driftwood: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

Kenkaku sighed as he wheeled his bike into the gas station. The bike had run out of gas five miles previously. The currents of fate had not been particularly kind to him lately. On the other hand, he was getting close to the West Coast. Perhaps he could jump a ship to Japan from there, and perhaps settle there as a hero. The Land of the Rising Sun had a large dearth of heroes. _Besides, I'll actually be able to talk to the average guy there_, thought the metahuman.

Little did the wave man realize he would never get on that ship, instead getting caught in the tidal pool the world called Jump City.

Kenkaku left his bike against the gas station building after refueling. He hiked his duffle up on his shoulder and walked in, confident that no one would steal his scuffed-up bike. People only liked Japanese models if they were immaculate. The sliding doors let out a rush of cool air. 'Ding, ding.'

"Ah! Hello sir! Can I help you?"

_"Do you speak Japanese?"_

"Excuse me?"

"_Ii ka._" The ronin walked over to the map rack and pulled out the one he was looking for. _California__ Road Map_. _Good to see that they sell something I can read,_ he mused with a smile. He moved on to the snacks section, buying a stack of cheap protein and energy bars along with a few candy bars. _Wave men do not live by protein bars alone,_ he thought, smirking. Drinks next. He was sorely tempted to buy the 12-pack of Dr. Pepper, but he needed hydration, and the bottled water was cheaper, not to mention actually able to quench his thirst.

_Yep that'll do._ He gathered up the provisions and walked to the counter to pay.

The salesperson pointed at the things, "_Kyou_," he pointed at the pumps outside, "_San, kitsu ka?_" he asked in broken Japanese.

"_Hai._" The teen pulled out his wallet. The salesperson turned the price display to Kenkaku. 'Sigh.' The boy pulled out the bills and paid the man. Just one more money-draining stop on the road to somewhere or another. He put the things in his duffle and made to leave.

'Ding, ding.' "Gimme all the money you have, or I blow your head off!" yelled a disgruntled-looking man with a pistol as he burst through the door.

"_NANDA?_" asked a surprised Kenkaku.

"Careful, longhair, or I blow your brains out! Don't move." He aimed the pistol at the long-haired teen for a bit before turning to the salesperson. "Money in a bag now!"

"_Fujo__,_" gasped the man behind the counter piteously.

That was all the ronin needed to hear. "_Omae__!_" he yelled at the robber. As the criminal turned to him, he sped his body and perceptions up.

"What do you want Chinaman? Can't wait to…" he cut off as a extremely fast moving fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him out. Kenkaku switched back to normal speed.

"_Dame da,_" he said fake sweetly, "_Zuiban__ busuina yakaru da na._" The last part was growled out. He smiled at the salesman. "_Ja na._" He started to walk out.

"Wait!"

"_Nani__?_" asked the teen, turning around.

"_Domo arigato._" The man tossed a clip of bills at him.

The teen smiled. "_Douitashimashite__.__ Arigato."_ He gave a sketchy salute to the man with the hand that held the money, and walked out into the muggy Southern California heat.

---

Kenkaku smiled under his helmet as he rode along the coastal road, his duffle slung over his back as always. When he looked at the beach, he saw a few pieces of driftwood moving back and forth with the waves. _Just like me,_ he mused with his soft smile. _Eh, what could it hurt?_ He pulled over and walked his bike onto the beach, and leaned it up against a convenient tree, before doffing his helmet and placing it on the handlebars. His slightly more than shoulder-length hair blew lightly in the slight wind.

_This is real nice. _The swordsman placed his duffle next to his aging sportbike and walked down the beach, taking a much-needed break from the road. The day was cloudy and some of the morning fog still clung to the water, but he actually preferred it to an insanely sunny day. With what he was wearing, it was actually a pleasant temperature. A riding costume of dark blue long pants, a dark gray t-shirt and a black jacket, currently open, with a flip-up collar fit rather well into the somber mood of the scene. His belt was black leather with a pair of attachment on each hip for putting his swords through, Kanesada on the left, Muramasa on the right. The left fitting could be manipulated so that one could easily iaijutsu while keeping the sheath still attached to the belt. The right hip was merely a leather loop to hold the bokken. Both were currently vacant.

Kenkaku luxuriated in the solitude and quiet sound of sea lapping against shore. Presently, a tidal pool caught his attention. _That's strange._ A black piece of driftwood floated in it. But what caught his attention was the fact the shard of wood had a strip of bright metal stuck in it. _Almost looks a bit like Kanesada._ He knelt and looked closer at the pool, intrigued. Five shells rested in the pool. One red, one yellow, one green, one white, and one blue. _Strange._ He stood up again, brushing off his knees. _I know sensei would call that an omen, but dammed if I can figure it out. Besides, none of those -omens- of his came true, right?_ He continued his walk down the beach.

Had the brown-haired teen viewed the pool from an angle 90 degrees over, he would have realized that the shells were arranged in the shape of a T.

---

Kenkaku stretched his arms about five minutes later, ambling back to his bike along the very edge of the water. He had better get moving again. As pleasant as the beach was, he did kinda enjoy his aimless wandering. It let him see many things. He fastened up his jacket, humming as he approached his bike. Water lapped at his boots as he made his slow way across the damp sand.

He had just fastened the collar when he tripped over a body.

'WHUMP'

"_What the…_" He picked himself up and turned around. A soaked blue cloak met his eyes. "_Chikushou__._" He rolled the body over. It was a petite girl, wearing a navy leotard with no legs. Blue boots adorned her feet. A chain of gold discs linked by what looked like gold wires with dark red gemstones set in them was worn around her waist like a belt for whatever reason. Another of the golden discs with the gemstone held her cloak around her neck. A smaller disc with an appropriately smaller stone adorned each wrist. She had a head of purple hair and ashen skin. A teardrop-shaped gemstone of what looked like the same type was set on her forehead. With such a strange costume, she was probably a metahuman too. Whether she was good or evil was yet to be determined.

He checked for a pulse, finding a strong, steady beat before checking to see if she was breathing. Yep, she was. Almost definitely a metahuman then. He opened her eyes to see if she had suffered a concussion. Oh yeah, most definitely. _Purple eyes?_ he asked mentally as he moved on to looking for cuts. There was only one, a long but fairly shallow gash on her leg. The long-haired boy ran to get his duffle for the first aid kit inside.

Once he had it, it was a fairly simple job to bind it up. He sat back in seiza. _Now what? I can't just leave her here, but I don't have a cell phone to call for help, and I can't take her on the bike if she's unconscious. _He frowned. _What if she's evil? _He took Kanesada from the duffle and put it in place on his hip. _That should be enough to fight her if it comes to that._

He checked her vital signs again in the Red Cross-prescribed way. He had just started to check for breathing when…

"What are you doing?" asked a flat, unfriendly voice from beneath his ear. He jumped up.

"_Gomen!"_He stood with hands at shoulder-height, palms out. "_I was performing first aid._"

"Do you speak English?" She stood up, her sodden cloak weighting her down.

"_Iie__.__ Datte…"_

She cut him off. "_So ka.__ My Japanese is somewhat rusty, but passable I hope."_

He stared. _"You are remarkably fluent. I was about to say, I can understand English, but cannot speak it."_

Her cloak hood was still off her face so Kenkaku caught her raised eyebrow. _"Strange. Why?" _He was more than a little surprised that she continued in Japanese.

He scratched the back of his neck._ "I don't know. I can't seem to speak anything but Japanese. Oh! By the way, I'm Kenkaku."_

Her eyebrow climbed her face again. She switched over to English. "You're swordsman?" She flipped her hood up.

He gave a sheepish smile. _"Hero name."_ He fished out his Metahuman Vigilante Registration Card, ready to draw Kanesada quickly if she reacted badly.

She looked the card over. "_My name is Raven._" She handed him her card. "_I'm part of the Teen Titans from __Jump__City__._"

"_Pleased to meet you Raven-san.__ You do not have to continue in Japanese."_

_"One must practice a skill to stay sharp." _She gestured at Kanesada. _"Am I wrong?" _She handed him back his card, and he gave her hers back.

_"No, not at all."_He removed Kanesada from his belt and placed it back in his duffle. "_Is there any way I can help you?_"

_"I don't think so, Kenkaku-san." _She pulled out her communicator, flipping it open. There wasn't a sound but she did not notice this. "_Titans, this is Raven. Home in…_" She realized she was speaking Japanese. Her hood's shadow hid her blush of embarrassment. "Titans, this is Raven. Home in on my signal and come pick me up. I'm on a beach that shouldn't be -too- far from the city." She looked down at the device. "What?"

"_Looks broken to me," _observed Kenkaku, pointing at a rent in the device's shell.

"Yes. This fact fills me with joy." Kenkaku almost wanted to check himself for bleeding, so biting was the sarcasm.

_"Are you sure I cannot help?_"

"_Yes. I will just levitate ba…"_ 'COUGH, COUGH, UHHH, HACK, COUGH!' Her coughing fit drove her to her knees. "_Well, perhaps…"_

---

Ten minutes later Raven stood in some of Kenkaku's spare clothes munching on a disgusting energy bar as the wave man rooted through his duffle for a spare helmet. Suddenly the male slapped his forehead. _"Kuso!__ I forgot I sold the spare a month back."_

_"You are pathetic." _She spat out a bit of the bar.

_"Hey, ronin never had much to live on throughout history!" _He defended himself as he stood up

_"And you're carrying on that trend?"_

_"Sadly enough…yes.__ Wandering superhero isn't a particularly high-paying job. Even less so when you don't speak the vernacular."_

_"Fine.__ So what are we going to do?"_

The ronin stood up and placed the one helmet on the stunned sorceress's head. "_You wear the helmet."_

_"Fine."_They walked to the road, Kenkaku wheeling the sportsbike.

_"Hold the bike._" She did. Kenkaku let out some slack on his duffel's strap. He then balanced the bike. "_Get on the back seat."_ She did and he slung the duffle around her, with plenty of slack in the strap.

_"Nanda?"_

_"Quiet and let me work."_ He got on the bike. Raven put her arms around his waist. "_Good._" He put the duffel's strap around him and pulled it tight, pulling her snugly against him. "_Don't get any ideas."_

_I was under the distinct impression that that was my line, _thought Raven as they sped off. 'Cough!'

---

Japanese Glossary:

Kenkaku: Literally "Swordsman." Also a character's hero name.

Ronin: Literally "Wave man", meaning a masterless samurai or warrior

Kanji: Chinese-style characters.

Ii ka: "Fine, then."

Kyou: "And."

San: "Three." (not to be confused with -san)

Kitsu: "Correct."

Ka: Modifier. Turns a statement into a question.

Hai: "Yes."

Nanda: "What the hell?"

Fujo: "Help."

Omae: "Hey you!" (Like calling someone a peon, but not quite.)

Dame da: "Bad." (Like saying 'bad dog' to someone, complete with implied newspaper swat.)

Zuiban busuina yakaru da na: "Classless bastard."

Ja na: "See ya." (Male speak)

Nani: "What?"

Domo Arigato: "Thank you."

Douitashimashite: "You are welcome."

Arigato: "Thanks."

Chikushou: Literally "Beast(s)", figuratively "Damn." The strongest curse of -traditional- Japanese.

Seiza: A position to sit in. Much like sitting on one's feet with legs parallel in front of one's self. Diminishes space taken up while sitting. Used in Zen meditation and in martial arts.

Gomen: "Pardon me." Like 'I'm sorry'.

Iie: "No."

Datte: "But."

So ka: "I see."

-san: Honorific, basic, for use between equals, rough translation being "Mr., Ms., Mrs." Can even be applied to enemies. General use honorific.

Sword terms:

Katana: Curved, single edged sword of over two shaku (a unit of measure of a little less than a foot) in length. Traditionally, they are forged of folded steel that has been differentially tempered. These are the long swords of the samurai, often considered to be the best style of sword in the world.

Tsuka: Hilt or handle.

Menuki: Blade pin covers, placed inside the ito wrap.

Fuchi kashira: Metal covering for the butt of the tsuka.

Saya: Sheath.

Same: Ray skin. The inner wrapping of the tsuka.

Ito: The outer wrapping of the tsuka, with the highest quality being silk. This is the wrap that creates the famous diamond pattern by revealing diamonds of same.

Habaki: Blade collar.

Hamon: The border between the soft and hard steel of the body and edge, respectively.

Bokken: Wooden practice sword, most often made to simulate the katana.

A/N: Revised and renamed, here's the first chapter.

Please excuse the extensive use of Japanese. I realize that it can be hard to understand. That is intentional, but will not be so prevalent in later chapters.

I hope this version is more pleasing than the first.


	3. Driftwood: Part 2

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

"_Jump__City__," _proclaimed Kenkaku as he stopped the bike on a hill overlooking the Southern Californian coast town. _"And __Titan__Tower__ out in the bay."_He squinted. _"Uh, Raven-san?"_

_"What now?" _'Cough.' The half-demon was feeling perfectly miserable. Going into a meditative trance for a few days was sounding real good right about now. Her body temp was badly off and her mind was a little clouded, never a good thing. The situation with the duffle wasn't particularly pleasant. Her body was reacting to some base urges after being virtually strapped to him for close on two hours now. It wasn't as if he was in bad shape. Quite remarkable, actually, considering the lifestyle and funds he had. She thanked a nameless deity that Lust was easy to control when it came to its influence on her powers. 'Cough.'

"Exactly how are we supposed to get to Titan Tower? This bike doesn't transform into a jetski and the suspension bridge doesn't connect to the island."

_"Secret tunnel."_'Ha-choo!'

_"Ah. And how, pray tell would one go about activating it?"_

_"With the communicator."_'Cough.'_ "What else, Kenkaku-san?"_

_"Ah. The communicator. The -broken- communicator, Raven-san?"_

_"Chikushou."_

_ "Any other way to get you there?"_

_"How much do you like this bike? And can you swim?"_

_"If it goes in the bay, you're buying me a new one. I happen to like having transportation. And yes, I can swim."_

_"Okay then. Get us to the bay."_

---

The two metahumans threaded their way through city traffic at a moderate speed, winding their way towards the bay. _"You do know that you don't need to wear the helmet, neh?"_

_"I'd prefer to stay anonymous if it's all the same to you." _'Ha-choo!'A sneeze splattered the inside of the visor. _"Best not to let on that a Titan is sick."_

_"So ka."_He twisted the throttle a bit and slid through an opening in the traffic, only to run into an even denser pack, moving even slower. _"That makes sense."_

She limply laid her helmeted head on his back. _"Can you get to the bay quickly? I'm getting worse."_

_"Hai, hai.__ Shin no tensai wa nandemo konashite shimau mono sa."_

_"Too bad we don't have one here."_

_"I could have sworn I was strapped to a sick one. Shows you how much I know."_

_"Nani?"_

_"Keep your center of gravity right over the bike."_

_"Okay..?"_

_"Hajimeruzo!"_

'VROOOOOOOOOM!'

He pulled the bike onto the mercifully empty sidewalk, speeding up his perceptions and self as he gunned the bike. Raven's scream stretched out and distorted before transforming to something that wasn't really describable or perhaps something that wasn't even a sound at all. Kenkaku brought the bike up to 105 mph, the old sportbike's top speed, and aimed for a concrete structure that could double as a ramp.

The ronin did make it double as a ramp, launching the bike, himself, and Raven, who was doing an impressive imitation of a corset, especially for a girl who was likely suffering from pneumonia, mild hypothermia, or both, into the air. The bike landed on both wheels, on top of an 18-wheeler with a reinforced trailer.

'WHUMP!'

'EEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

The tires painted a black diagonal line across the top as they used the trailer to cross the street, diving off the other side of the trailer, Kenkaku throwing his weight back so as to land on both wheels. They used another of the concrete structures to jump a small sidewalk café, before turning onto a handicapped ramp to go into a building. It was a very good thing that the doors were open at both ends of the building. People dove out of the way as the Japanese-made sportbike blew through the Kawasaki dealers with a cargo of two teens and a duffle.

'VRRRRRRRRRRRRRROW!'

_Oooh__, the new Ninja ZX-12Rs are in early, _noted the male rider as they blew through at what seemed to him to be only a moderate pace. Raven was too busy screaming to note much but the fact that, thank all that was good and holy, and there wasn't much, she still had an unbreakable death grip on Kenkaku.

"So," asked an impressed customer of his salesman, "What model were -they- riding?"

The swarthy salesman shook his head, smiled, and clapped his hand on the man's shoulder. "That sir, was one of our Ninja ZX-10Rs, quite possibly our best model. Would sir like to see one?"

"Very much so."

---

When the bike came to a sliding halt, Kenkaku was sure Raven had caused slight damage to his internal organs, as tight as she was holding onto him. And she wasn't letting go. The boy tried to pry her arms off, but the half-demon wasn't budging.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," repeated the girl in a small voice, over and over.

_"We've stopped," _Kenkaku informed her with a wince,_ "The death grip is no longer necessary."_

"Azarath, Metri…What?"

_"We've stopped, Raven-san," _he reiterated, _"and as nice as it generally is to be hugged by a cute girl, you're bruising my spleen. Please stop." _He winced again, loosening the strap across his chest.

_"Oh! Gomen." _Raven removed her arms and leaned back, freed of the duffel's embrace. _"Wait a second! Apologize to you? What the hell was that? I said get us here faster, not nearly kill us!" _A number of streetlights blew out in a flash of obsidian energy.

_"Well, what did you want me to do?" _asked the brown-haired teen as he rooted through his duffel. _"You can't tell me we didn't get here faster. And I was watching that all in slow motion. I can speed up my actions, reflexes, and perceptions. We weren't really in that much danger. Besides,"_ He smirked._ "I seem to have scared the cough away." _He pulled out Muramasa and put it in place on his right hip.

'Cough.'

_"Okay, maybe not the last one." _He pulled Kanesada out of the duffle and put it in place on his left hip. He put down the kickstand on the bike and got off, stretching. _"But the others are true."_ He walked towards the bay.

_"What are you doing?"_

_"Take a break before crossing the bay. The ride might have been fun, but I'm not going to deny that it can be draining."_

Raven shot the helmet at him with her telekinesis. _"I'm ready to go now."_

He spun around, drawing Kanesada in a flash of light and slashing the helmet in one smooth motion.

'SHING!'

Two splashes in the bay marked where the helmet's halves landed. His gaze flicked to the side and a look of horror crossed his face as he sheathed Kanesada and ran at her and the bike. _"You said you were ready to go now?"_

_"Hai.__ Why?"_

He jumped on the bike and sped up his reflexes, but not his perceptions or body. He had to be able to communicate with Raven on this endeavor. _"Just hold on!" _He started the bike and popped a wheelie, applying as much power as he did. When the front wheel came down, they shot off, just ahead of the pulse cannon fire of a hijacked hovertank.

'VRRRRRRRRROW!'

'Neow, Neow, Neow, Neow, Neow!'

Had they still been there and miraculously avoided the low-powered but numerous energy bolts, they would have seen the T-car pursuing the hovertank, photon cannon blazing.

---

'VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREM!'

_"You do realize that you're bruising my spleen again!?" _shouted Kenkaku to the wind.

_"Does it really matter much in this situation?" _yelled Raven in his ear.

_"Good point! Bruise away!" _Kenkaku had an idea._ Yeah, that just might work. "Raven-san! Wrap your legs around me!"_

_"Nanda!?__ Hentai!"_

_"I'm looking for control of both of our weights! Do it!"_

_"Temee…ii ka."_She wrapped her slender legs around his waist and moved her arms up to his chest. As an afterthought, she squeezed hard. The male metahuman didn't even notice, throwing both their weights to the side and taking a corner at way too high of a speed and angle for a person outside of an asylum. A plasma cannon blast tore up the street behind them in a monumental blast.

'VRRRROW!'

'THU-KOOM!'

_"KUSO!" _cursed Kenkaku as he saw the crater in the mirrors. _"That bakayarou decided he wants us!" _The hovertank slid around the corner and only dipped a bit as it went over the crater. The two pulse cannons flanking the main plasma cannon flashed and whined, spitting destruction at the two metahumans on the sportsbike.

'Neow, Neow, Neow!'

Kenkaku sideslipped and the energy bolts tore up the road alongside them. He spotted a side street and turned hard left into it. The tank made to follow as the T-car zipped around the corner in pursuit, avoiding the plasma-created pothole but going up on two wheels.

'EEEEEEEE!'

Cyborg cursed as the hovertank entered the side street, denying him a shot with his photon cannon. "Robin! Where are you?"

"Coming up on the side street in the opposite direction from you, same road," came Robin's voice from the com panel of the T-car. "How much damage have you been able to do to him?"

"None! I haven't landed a single shot!" Cyborg turned the corner and triggered the photon cannon, missing the tail end of the stolen piece of military hardware, instead demolishing a storefront. "Damn him!" He kicked in the turbos and shot down the street, cornering a near-insane speed as he moved onto another main road in pursuit of the tank. "Where are Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire?"

'VROOOM!'

"Beast Boy and Starfire are still pursuing the attack plane. Raven well…you know."

Cyborg felt like slapping himself, but now was not the time. "Oh yeah. Right." He looked ahead at the hovertank. "Uh, Robin?"

"Yes? I'm coming up behind you."

"The hovertank is chasing someone."

"WHAT!?"

Cyborg zoomed his crimson cybernetic eye in as much as he could. "It's two people on a sportsbike. Damn," he remarked as Kenkaku dropped speed and sideslipped again to avoid another burst of pulse cannon fire. "Whoever it is, they're good. And you speed up…now. Or not." Cyborg watched in bewilderment as the bike tilted to the left and pulled a hard left turn with the throttle applied fully at the apex of the turn. "Damn, another side street."

"I see it," said Robin as he passed Cyborg on the R-cycle. "He might be good, but I don't think he knows the city streets. He doesn't seem to be really going anywhere."

---

'THU-KOOM!'

_"Chikushou!" _yelled Kenkaku as another plasma cannon blast ripped up the street, showering them with burning bits of pavement. _"That was way too close!"_

_"What now, Kenkaku-san? We can't run forever, and my powers can't stop the tank!"_

_"Kono ore ni ittai nan no you!?" _yelled the long-haired teen at the tank driver. _"You think I don't know that? I'm open to suggestions on what to do!"_

_"We could just give up and die!"_

_"Kotowaru!"_He dodged another pulse cannon volley.

_"Ii ka…we could make a frontal assault!"_

_"That's mil-spec hardware on our tail! That's the same suggestion as the first! Kotowaru! Kotowaru!" _He twisted the throttle for all he was worth, squeezing every last iota of power out of his aging sportbike's engine. Glancing in his mirror, he saw a priming charge grow in the main cannon. _"Why won't you let me be!?"_

'PSHOW!'

'VRRROW!'

'THU-KOOM!'

Another hard right dodged a cannon blast, and put him on a one-way street, heading the wrong way. _"BAKA!" _yelled Raven as Kenkaku dodged traffic and energy fire alike. _"Dame da!__ Dame DA!"_

'VRRRRRREM!'

'PSHOW!'

'THU-KOOM!'

A plasma cannon blast blew up a parked tanker truck in front of them. Rather fortunately, it had been filled with milk instead of something more volatile, such as natural gas, much like the tanker further down the street that was ripped open by pulse bolts.

'Neow, Neow, Neow!'

'KRA-THOOM!'

The two teens' eyes went wide as a mushroom cloud of fire erupted, coating the street in flames. Kenkaku reflexively turned left down a side street, which was more of an alleyway. It was blocked by a number of crates. _"Shimatta!"_

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A wave of obsidian energy blasted the crates to splinters.

_"You can be pretty useful!" _Kenkaku turned right and sped down the mostly deserted street.

_"Looks like we lost him!"_

_"Yeah."_Kenkaku let off on the throttle and Raven relaxed her grip, going back to a normal riding position. _"How many criminal groups steal a hovertank?" _

_"It's a pretty extensive list in this city." '_Cough._' _Raven looked around. _"Oh no."_Her legs went around the other metahuman's waist again.

_"Nani?"_

_"HOVERTANK!"_

_"Good reason to go!" _Kenkaku punched it, just ahead of yet another plasma cannon blast.

'THU-KOOM!'

---

"Okay," said Robin as he watched the sportbike get away from the stolen hovertank, "Lack of knowledge of this city's streets notwithstanding, it seems the bikers got away. I'm going to try to get onto that tank."

"Hold up man, I've got a shot."

'TSSSSSOW!'

A streak of energy flew past Robin and impacted on the hovertank. The tank slewed and the driver used it to turn down another street just before the fire created by the LNG tanker.

"What are we going to do about that fire?"

"Beast Boy and I have down taken the plane of assault. Shall we assist you?"

Robin's mind sped faster than his cycle. How to deal with everything? He spotted a water tank on a building above the conflagration. "That's it! Beast Boy, you put out the fire in town. There's a large water tank above the site. Starfire, you help us with the hovertank!" Robin turned the corner in pursuit of the tank. He saw the cannon fire again, just barely missing the two unknowns on the bike.

"Coming!"

"Aw man, why do I have to put out the fire?"

"Shut up and do it!" Robin sped up and clicked in autopilot as he came up behind the tank on a straightaway. He took careful aim and fired a grappling hook, which caught on what looked like a six-tube missile box on the opposite side of the rear from where Cyborg had hit the tank.

'Clank!'

He got a little closer before jumping off his bike and retracting the grappling hook, pulling himself towards the tank

As he flew at the tank, he pulled out his retractable bo staff, holding it out in front of him, still collapsed. As he ended his flight, he extended it, the ends locking on the pylon for one of the two main drive engines and the missile box pylon.

'Thunk!'

He pulled himself onto the tank and checked out the damage from Cyborg's attack. "Looks like you got the mortar launcher and caught a little bit of the shielding for the engine on that side, Cy. Star! Where are you?"

"Coming Robin! I am over the city now!"

A hatch opened in the tank and a man with a pair of knives jumped out, knives spinning in flashes of steel, ready to spill blood. "Uh, I might need help soon Star." _Of all the days to run out of Birdarangs and discs, _groaned the Boy Wonder mentally.

---

_"Okay, he's insane!" _said Kenkaku as he looked in the mirrors.

_"Nani?"_

_"The guy back there is attacking the tank with nothing but a bo!"_

_"Robin-san!"_

_"Your boyfriend!?"_

She squeezed tighter for a second._ "Not the time or place for jokes! He's the leader of the Titans!"_

_"Ow. Nice to know that they're trying to save us! And is there ever a time or place for jokes with you!?"_

_"Iya!"_

_"Thought so!__ It'd be nice to be able to hook up with them I guess, but the tank driver isn't going to let that…whoa!"_

_"What now?"_

'Neow, Neow, Neow, Neow!'

Kenkaku dodged yet another volley of pulse cannon fire. _"A guy just jumped out of the tank! Knife fighter!"_

Raven grimaced. _"Nothing we can do for him! Besides, Robin-san is a consummate martial artist! And where do you get off on calling him crazy!? You carry a sword!"_

_"Hey, my sword has a sharp edge!"_

"Touché," she admitted, but it was lost in the wind.

_"Besides, no matter how lame it sounds, it's a magic sword!"_

_"I've heard stranger!" _A plasma blast tore up the street pretty far behind them. _"Are we still idealess on how to get away!?"_

_"Eh…not quite!__ You said you can levitate! Can you levitate this bike?"_

_"Hai!__ Naze!?"_

_"Just be ready to when I call for it! Which way to the bridge!"_

_"I'll direct you!"_

_"Tame!"_

---

'SSSS!'

Robin ducked a flat swing of the knife fighter's right-hand weapon and thrust his bo at the man's stomach. The left knife picked off the strike and deflected it so that it missed the man to the side.

'CLANK!'

Robin's eyemask went large as the man trapped the bo against his side and twisted, throwing Robin into the missile box.

'WHUMP!'

_I wonder why they haven't used these on the bike? _wondered Robin, dazedly before rolling out of the way of a double-knife stab at his chest. He recovered the bo and shook his head, blocking another stab by rotating the staff, bashing the blade towards the tank's armored deck.

'CLANK!'

The Boy Wonder smirked, then opened his mouth in a scream of pain as the other knife traced a line of white-hot pain across his shoulder. "AHHHG!"

'SSSHICK!'

The knife-fighter went in for the kill.

"Robin!"

'ZAK!'

'BAM!'

A starbolt blew the man flying off the tank. Robin looked up to see Starfire flying above the tank. The missile box tilted up. _That's why! They're only for surface to air! _"Star! Look out! SAM!"

'PSSSHOOM!'

A pair of missiles shot into the air at the Tamaranian girl who dove and threw starbolts.

'ZAK, ZAK, ZAK, ZAK!'

'BUH-BOOM!'

She caught one of them in a flurry of her starbolts and the other one lost lock. Robin jammed his bo into some exposed circuitry in the launcher's pylon and twisted, disabling the anti-air weapon. _Hey, _he noticed, _we're actually going somewhere now. Looks like the bridge. _He looked over the tank. No other weak points, as the man had closed the hatch after he had gotten out. Robin pulled out a remote control and called the R-cycle as he retracted his staff and put it away. As soon as it came close enough, he jumped on and took over control.

'VROOOOOM!'

---

_"Straight ahead to the bridge!"_

_"Yosh!__ Get ready to levitate us!" _Kenkaku looked ahead. The bridge was right ahead.

_"Dozou!__ Please tell me we aren't going on the support cables!"_

_"Fine!__ I won't tell you!"_

_"You are insane!"_

_"We're about to die Raven-san! Might as well live it up a bit!" _They shot up the cable.

---

"Someone has watched way too many movies," said Cyborg as he trailed behind in the T-car, angling for a shot. He got it, kicking in the turbos and triggering the cannon.

'TSSSOW!'

The cannon blast caught the engines dead on, secondary explosions grounding the craft, but not before a few things happened.

Kenkaku jumped the sportsbike off the bridge towards Titan Tower and Raven provided levitation. The tank gunner saw his prey getting away and triggered the plasma cannon, then the pulse cannons. Starfire hit the plasma cannon bolt with a starbolt, blowing it apart in midair not twenty feet from the back of the bike. The shockwave knocked Raven out and flung both metahumans off the bike, just before the pulse cannon fire finally caught the sportsbike, turning it into a short-lived fireball. The tank died at this point. Kenkaku grabbed Raven's unconscious form with one hand, now moving and seeing in an accelerated mode. The shock of grabbing her sent him back towards the bridge where he grabbed a vertical support wire as he went, swinging around it to slow himself down, his motorcycle gloves wearing away. Cyborg jumped out of the T-car and ran to catch the two while Robin went to secure the tank. Cyborg caught Kenkaku's forearm and Kenkaku got a grip on Raven's shirt collar. Kenkaku sighed as he hung between the two of them, glad for it to be over, forgetting one important thing.

The shirt he was holding Raven up with was one of his old threadbare ones.

'Rrrip!'

Raven fell, leaving Kenkaku hanging onto the piece of cloth that had been the shirt. _"KUSO!__ RAVEN-SAN!" _He looked up at Cyborg_ "DROP ME, YOU FOOL!"_

The honorific kept Cyborg from recognizing Raven's name. "Don't worry man, we'll get your girlfriend out of the water." He started to hoist Kenkaku up.

_"BAKA!"_

'SHING!'

Kanesada separated Cyborg's forearm from his hand. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

_"**KIAI!**"_A splash marked where Kenkaku had entered the water, with Kanesada already sheathed. Cyborg looked down, but even with his cybernetic eye, he could see nothing but the cold black waters of the bay.

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

Chikushou: "Damn." See previous chapter for more info.

Neh: "Right?"

So ka: "I see."

Hai: "Yes."

Shin no tensai wa nandemo konashite shimau mono sa: "A true genius can do anything."

Nani: "What?"

Hajimeruzo: "We begin/Begin."

-San: Honorific. See first chapter for explanation.

Gomen: "Pardon/Sorry."

Nanda: "What the hell?"

Hentai: "Pervert." (as noun)/"Perverted." (as adjective)

Temee: "Fucker/Why you…"

Ii ka: "Fine then."

Kuso: "Shit."

Bakayarou: "Stupid bastard."

Kono ore ni ittai nan no you: "What the hell do you want with me?"

Kotowaru: "I refuse." When you say this you -mean- no!

Baka: "Idiot/Stupid/Moron."

Dame da: "Bad." Like saying bad dog to someone while whacking them across the nose with newspaper.

Shimatta: "Damn it."

Nani: "What?"

Iya: "No." Stronger than iie.

Hai: "Yes."

Naze: "Why?"

Tame: "Good."

Yosh: "Very good."

Dozou: "Please."

Kiai: General Japanese battle cry, in kiaijutsu, supposed to carry the force of one's fighting spirit to do something.

Japanese Martial Arts:

Kenjutsu: "Art of the sword." Perhaps the most famous form of Japanese martial arts, its successor is Kendo, "Way of the sword". The art of fighting with a sword, generally a katana.

Iaijutsu: "Art of the sword-draw." A subset of kenjutsu concerned with attacking and drawing the sword in one movement. Replaced by Iaido, "Way of the sword-draw."

Kiaijutsu: "Art of the kiai." A lost art that consisted of projecting one's warrior spirit on the enemy, ally, or environment. Masters of kiaijutsu were said to be able to freeze enemies by looking at them, kill or drive them back with a shout, or heal a mortally wounded comrade with the same voice that could be a lethal weapon. Not much is known about this obscure art, but it is obvious that it was a very powerful and versatile art. No equivalent is known of today.

-jutsu vs. -do: After the Meiji restoration, all jutsu were officially replaced with do in the names of martial arts, as the art was for war while the way was for peace. This switch of policy from perfection of warriorship to inner perfection was not particularly well received by the majority of the samurai. Some rebelled, some went along, and some kept to the ideals of the –jutsu in secret. It seems obvious that Kenkaku's teacher was part of a line that did the latter.

Warning: Many modern money-grubbers will say that they teach a -jutsu rather than a -do, to attract thrill-seekers, saying that they teach it for use in actual combat, especially in kendo/jutsu. They will often wow you with useless Japanese terminology to look 'authentic'. Do not fall for this trick.

---

A/N: Well, here's the almost completely untouched second chapter.


	4. Driftwood: Part 3

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

Robin finished binding up the unconscious tank hijackers and looked over at Cyborg, who was looking down into the water. Starfire swooped down to cart the villains off to jail. "Cy! Didn't you catch them!?"

Cyborg turned around and looked at Robin. "I caught them, but the girl fell!"

"So where's the guy?" asked Robin as he ran over.

"In the water."

"WHAT?" Robin looked ready to strangle Cyborg. "HOW?"

"He cut off my hand, man!" Cyborg held up the stump of his wrist.

"What the…" asked Robin as he stared at the sparking amputation.

"I caught him, and he caught her shirt, but the shirt ripped. So she goes into the bay. I told him we'd get her but he yells something at me, whips out this sword, cuts my hand off and dives into the bay, sheathing the sword as he goes!" Cyborg flailed the stump of his arm around. "And now they're both in the bay! With my hand!"

"You've got spare arms. We need to figure out how to get them out of there."

---

In the cold waters of the bay, an unconscious body drifted slowly downwards. A sword of wood and one of steel graced his hips. Air spilled from his lungs as his body slowly sunk.

Suddenly, an obsidian field formed around his body and he floated upwards in the company of a purple-haired girl.

His jacket slowly drifted off his body and covered the girl's nude upper torso as light graced them from above.

---

An obsidian bubble broke the waters of the bay as Cyborg and Robin looked on, dumbfounded. Raven stood in the middle of the sphere of black telekinetic energy, Kenkaku lying facedown 'at her feet'. Water poured out of the swordsman's mouth as they floated up to the bridge.

Robin and Cyborg stared. "Raven? We though you were dead."

"I'm not," snapped Raven as she floated to the road's surface. "But what about him?"

Cyborg scanned the unconscious metahuman. "He's alive. Has a pulse and he's breathing. Sorry Raven, no excuse to give him mouth-to-mouth."

"Shut up."

Beast Boy flew in. "You let us think you were dead and then go off and find a boyfriend? What happened to your powers and emotions?"

"Shut up, Beast Boy. He is not my boyfriend." Some of the road started bubbling.

Robin took control. "This of course begs the question, who is he?"

"His name is Kenkaku, and he's a registered vigilante. He found me on a beach."

"Oh. So you go for a vacation, Rae. Not nice."

"Face down in the surf. And don't call me Rae."

"Here's another question," said Cyborg, holding up his sparking arm. "Why is he unconscious? He was sure awake when he did this."

A cough and a groan from the ground got their attention. _"Kiaijutsu. I screwed it up."_

_"Nani?__ What do you mean?"_

_"I meant to simply wake you up. Instead I healed you completely and knocked myself out. Oh, and tell the black guy I'm sorry about his hand." _

"What did he say?" asked Robin.

"I'm not to clear on it, but he seems to have done some martial arts technique to wake me up but he didn't do it right, so it healed me and knocked him out. And he's sorry about your hand, Cyborg."

"Oh it's okay. I got spares." When she didn't say anything he looked at her funny. "Aren't you going to tell him that?"

"He understands English, he just can't speak it. We should probably get him to the hospital."

_"I just need a few days to rest. There is nothing physically wrong with me, I just need to regenerate my ki."_

_"So ka."_Raven turned back to the others. "Apparently he just needs to rest for a few days."

Robin nodded. "We'll take him back to the tower. Cyborg?"

The African-American android scooped Kenkaku's limp body up carefully, keeping the forcible amputation from burning him. He carried the other boy to the T-car, followed by Raven. The Titans set off for home, with a visitor.

---

Astaroth's axe crushed Ivy as Cyborg laughed. "Boo-yah! Another win for Cy! You can't even come close, BB! Hey! Kenkaku! You want in?"

The long-haired teen looked up. _"Un."_

"Uh," said Beast Boy, "What'd your boyfriend say, Raven?"

Raven sighed from behind her book. "He said yeah. And he is not my boyfriend."

"Oh. Well, here you go man. Hope you have better luck than me."

_"Luck has nothing to do with it. I'm going to win."_

"Luck has nothing to do with it. I'm going to win," translated Raven before Beast Boy got in an off-color remark.

"And how are you going to do that?"

_"Sore wa himitsu desu."_

"That's a secret," said Raven, putting down her book. _"Kenkaku-san, am I going to have to translate everything you say?"_

_"Shutting up."___

"Oh! So the new guy thinks he can beat the master? Care for a bet?"

Kenkaku glanced apologetically at Raven. _"Gomen, Raven-san.__ Anou, I have nothing to bet, Cyborg-san."_

"He doesn't have anything to bet, you bucket of bolts."

_"That's not what I said!"_

_"So sue me."_

"You can tell us some stories of your previous adventures if I win…

_"Isn't that more like torture for Raven-san?"_

_"Hai," _replied Raven, glaring at Cyborg.

"And if you, by some small, infinitesimal chance, beat me, you get choice of next game."

Kenkaku's eyes lit up and an evil smirk crossed his face. _"Oh, you're on."_

_"Nani!?"___

_"Don't worry, Raven-san, this one's in the bag." _He gave her a thumbs-up.

Raven looked at him, then turned to Cyborg, reluctantly. "He said the bet is on."

"OH! BOO-YAH! Well, come on, little man! Show me what you got!"

Kenkaku just smiled…and picked Mitsurugi. Cyborg looked at the sword resting next to the Japanese-speaking teen, then looked at the sword in Mitsurugi's hands. Same style. Katana. _"Told you, Raven-san."_The ronin laughed. _"Now, he doesn't have Kanesada, and he's not using Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu, but I guess I'll have to make d…"_

Raven cut him off with a slight smile._ "Un. You did. Now get on with the fight."_

"Um, is it too late to back out now?"

_"Hai,"_ replied Kenkaku, grinning evilly. Cyborg knew what that meant.

Beast Boy laughed all the way through Cyborg's embarrassing defeat. Tears were brought to his eyes when he saw Kenkaku's game selection. Heck, it even got a chuckle out of Raven. It was an oldie but goodie.

Bushido Blade 2.

---

Robin was chatting with Starfire when Cyborg came stumbling past, his gaming ego in tatters.

"What the…"

Cyborg looked over at him wearily. "Don't -ever- challenge that guy at a weapons-based fighting game with a katana in it." Having dispensed this sagely advice, Cyborg continued on his weary way.

Robin and Starfire shrugged, and went back to chatting.

---

Beast Boy threw up his hands. "I give up! You're a beast at these games!"

_"Aw, poor little Beast Boy-san, giving up already?"___

_"I'm not translating anymore."_

"Well, night, guys. If you must do -that-, clean up after you're done."

'WHACK!'

'THUNK!'

A telekinetically thrown controller and Muramasa both hit Beast Boy. "OW!" He threw the controller back at Raven, who caught it. The bokken went back to its place on Kenkaku's hip. Beast Boy scurried out the door.

_"So? You up for a round?"_

_"Of video games?__ Iya. I would not be caught dead with a controller to one of those childish simulations in my hand"._

_"What about alive?"_He pointed to the controller she was still holding.

_"You know what I mean."_

_"Come on. Just one round. Ichi. I'll even tell you about a book that should be right up you alley." _

_"And how would you know what that is?" _

_"You've been trying to read a -very- well used copy of Lord of the Flies. I can think of a much better book along the same lines."_

_"Fine.__ Ichi, ka?"_

_"Hai, Ichi. But you have to actually play."_

_"Ii ka.__ But just ichi." _

Kenkaku put in Kengo 2. They both picked characters, Raven's being the one her cursor started on. He explained the controls, and they started the fight. Raven listlessly moved her character forward and attacked, only to have her eyes widen as Kenkaku's character block her blow, lock swords, twist them around, and kick her character in the stomach. She looked over at him.

_"What was that?"_

_"Parry.__ Square button."_

She attacked again, his character warding off her blows before, at the start of another combo, he parried again, spinning her character behind him, her back exposed. He took the opportunity, his character's katana slashing hers to ribbons.

_"And that?"___

_"Block, parry, step forward, Stance 1 combo. Triangle, Square, Forward, X, X, X."_

_"Ah."_

Kenkaku stretched and moved to turn off the machine. _"Should've drawn that fight out longer.__ Anyway, the book is by a guy named Koushun Takami…" _He trailed off as he realized that his controller cord was glowing black, and keeping him from turning off the console. _"Anou, Raven-san…" _

_"I want a rematch." _Her eyes were glowing as she kept the cord restraining him.

_"Nani?"_ Kenkaku was more than a little confused.

_"Rematch," _said Raven firmly.

_"Okay," _replied a still confused but happy Kenkaku, moving back onto the couch. _"Bring it on."_

---

Robin was barely missed by a flying package of tofu as he walked into the main room for a midnight snack. Most of the room was flying about in fields of obsidian energy as two digitally rendered samurai dueled on the main screen, sparks flying from their swords. Taunts from the players filled the air. Suddenly one of them jumped back, sheathed his sword, then unsheathed it in a slash that opened the belly of his opponent, coming in under the overhand attack of the other samurai.

_Cyborg and Beast Boy up late again, _thought Robin, chuckling. _Probably pissing Raven off too, the way stuff is flying around like this. _

That was when he realized that all the taunts were in Japanese.

_"Waii!__ Iaijutsu!" _came the male voice.

_"Mou!__ Anfea! Matashitemo!"_ Definitely a female voice. And Robin was sure Starfire was in bed, so…

The players restarted the match, the previously slain samurai taking the offensive.

The male voice laughed. _"Akawarazu ii dokyou da na, Raven-san!" _The defending samurai parried and got in a quick slash before jumping back and shouting to build up ki.

Raven stood up as she commanded her avatar to attack Kenkaku's, her hood off and cheeks flushed, a predatory grin on her face. _"Monshi!"_Her grin crumbled as a stab combo stopped her attack, piercing her character, and a follow-up two-handed horizontal slash finished her. _"Shimatta!"_She stood stunned.

Kenkaku laughed his head off. Robin wanted to as well, but he had to sneak out of there, with his information. Beast Boy and Cyborg would love to hear about this!

He had just gotten out the door when he heard Raven restart the battle, yelling: _"Matashitemo!"_

---

Japanese Flavor Text Glossary:

Kiaijutsu: "Art of the kiai." (see previous chapter)

Nani: "What?"

Ki: Roughly "Spirit." But the word cannot be accurately translated due to its broad definition. Kenkaku is talking about his kenki, or 'swordsman (warrior) spirit'.

So ka: "I see."

Un: "Yeah."

Sore wa himitsu desu: "That's a secret."

Gomen: "Pardon/Sorry."

-san: General use honorific: "Mr./Ms./Mrs."

Anou: "Errr/Well."

Hai: "Yes."

Iya: "No." (Strong)

Ichi: "One."

Ka: Question mark.

Ii ka: "Fine then."

Waii: "Yeah!/Yay!" General exclamation of happiness.

Iaijutsu: "Art of the sword draw." See last chapter for more details.

Mou: "Again?" (Complaining)

Anfea: "Unfair."

Matashitemo: "Again."

Akawarazu ii dokyou da na: "There's the old spirit!"

Monshi: "Die in agony!"

Shimatta: "Damn it!"

---

A/N: Well, this was another fun chapter to write. As for Raven being OOC, it will be explained. Please review, and if you have any questions, leave your e-mail address in the review, and I will try to answer it for you. I am also working on a picture of the good guys that I should get up on the internet soon. Remember, review! Ja na.


	5. Driftwood: Part 4

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

Kenkaku awoke with Kanesada propped up against his shoulder and Muramasa behind his back. He was sitting against the end of the couch in a position stolen from Battousai. Light was just starting to come through the windows of the main room as he yawned and looked out to sea, smacking his lips.

_Time to get up._He stood and put Kanesada's saya into the fitting on his left hip, the wandered to the kitchen-like area to make something to eat. After all, his duffle had been lost in the hovertank incident, so he had no more of those nasty energy bars. It was safe to say that he wasn't particularly broken up about it. He opened up the fridge, and to his great delight found…

_DR.PEPPER! _The wave man was well and truly addicted to the wonderful soft drink. That and sushi. It was really too bad that he never seemed to have the money to get either. He did a little happy dance and set out three cans. _Time to feed the addiction,_ thought Kenkaku happily, drinking a can as he rummaged through the rest of the fridge in an attempt to find something appetizing and without mold. He polished off the first can with no luck, and immediately started on the second. Well, the cold pizza didn't look bad. In fact…_Oooh, five cheese pizza blanca. Yummy._ He pulled out the four slices and started munching, still rummaging through the fridge. He didn't really eat much on the road, and he was damn hungry. He took another swig of Dr. Pepper and closed the fridge. Nothing appetizing and edible left.

He was on the second-to-last slice and just cracking the last can when Robin walked in. "Morning, Kenkaku."

_"Ohayou."_ He lifted his can in greeting.

"Oh, damn. You got the pizza, didn't you?" asked Robin.

Kenkaku smiled sheepishly. _"Hai."_He held out the last slice in offering.

Robin waved away the piece. "No, you got it fair and square. I'll just have some cereal."

Kenkaku finished the second-to-last slice and started working on the aforementioned last slice. _"Wheaties, ka?"___

Robin, though he knew very little Japanese, caught the meaning. "No. Lucky Charms. The Breakfast of Titans." He brought out the garish box. "For obvious reasons, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone outside this tower."

The ronin mimed zipping his lips, smirking.

"Anyway, I thought we'd help you get some replacements for what you lost saving Raven today. Crime has been pretty quiet, with the exception on the theft yesterday. And if you wouldn't mind telling me about your powers and such when Raven is up to translate? Assuming we're on at least decently friendly terms. Maybe a demonstration too?"

_"Shua."_The swordsman nodded his head, then took another swig of Dr. P.

Robin nodded towards Raven. "I saw you two last night." At a smile from the ronin, he continued. "I think that's the first time she ever picked up at video game controller."

_Not too surprised, _thought Kenkaku, _though her competitive spirit sure did surprise me. We'll have to stop by the bookstore when we go to replace my stuff. I still owe her the info on that book, and after the number of matches she gave me, I think I owe her at least the book._

---

Raven looked out across the landscape of her mind, dreary place that it was. Suddenly, a her in a multi-colored cloak and leotard sprang up.

"Who the hell are you? LSD me?"

"No, stupid! I'm Competitive Spirit! And anything you can do, True, I can do better!"

"Including suppressing a number of emotions that run wild?"

"Never tried it before, but I bet I can do it better than you!"

True Raven smirked. "Tell you what. Why don't you get some practice in on Rage before you move on to all of the menagerie? Rage is certainly a challenge."

"For you maybe!" CS warped off.

_That should keep Trigon out of my hair for a while, considering that Competitive Spirit should be able to draw on all of my aspects, _mused Raven. She walked off across the landscape of her mind, never noticing the her that followed in the shadow.  Not until she had left her mind for the waking world did the stalker-like aspect reveal itself. It had a cloak of red.

---

Raven sat up from where she lay on the couch, only to be greeted by two males.

"Good morning!"

_"Ohayou."___

She grimaced at the crick in her neck. "That's debatable. Please tell me we have tea."

Kenkaku stopped drinking from his steaming cup, having switched over from Dr. Pepper after a fourth can._ "Anou, un, we do, but it's not your herbal stuff, Raven-san." _He held out a second cup. _"Sencha, ka?"___

_"Dozou."_He gave her the cup.Raven sipped at the green tea. Not her favorite, but a fairly close second. _"Domo arigato, Kenkaku-san."___

_"Douitashimashite."_The ronin went back to his cup.

Robin let the exchange go on in Japanese without understanding most of it. He caught a few words, but nothing that would let him join in. With this opening, he decided to fill Raven in for the plans. She, surprisingly enough, went along with the idea without any resistance. "Well, I'm going to go off and see what the deal is with the other Titans. They need to be up by now." He walked out of the room. "See ya."

_"Ja na."___

_"Ja ne."___

Kenkaku looked over at Raven, surprised. _"Do you like Japanese better than English or something?"_

Raven shrugged. _"It -is- a much more logical language. And in my opinion, the culture that spawned it is more interesting."_

The ronin nodded. _"Considering what's hanging off my belt, it'd be slight hypocrisy to argue that point. Besides, I agree with you. You still want to hear about the book?"_

_"What book?"_

_"You know, the one I bribed you with to play Kengo?"_

_"Oh, that book. Just show me at the mall. Which reminds me. I owe you a motorcycle, don't I?"_

_"Iie."___

_"But your old bike was destroyed…"_

_"It didn't go into the lake, did it?" _The wave man smiled good-naturedly. _"My old steed died for a good cause." _He leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

Mercifully, this caused him to miss the slight tinge of pink that shot across Raven's cheeks. She pulled her hood up. _Get a damn grip on yourself, Raven! He's nice and all, but he's a ronin, a wave man. He'll be gone soon. Besides, it's a moot point. You can't be with anyone. And even if you could, why would he want to be with you? Or anyone, for that matter? Relationships would be baggage for him._

_"Anyway," _he said, bringing his gaze back to her, _"I'm not saying a…what's with the hood?"_

Raven didn't answer. She was saved from further questioning when Cyborg, Robin and Starfire walked in. Outside of Cyborg, they were all in casual clothing, even if Robin's mask was still on.

"Well, we're ready to go!" boomed Cyborg. "To the T-car!"

"Beast Boy was having an 'ahem' nice dream," explained Robin. "We decided to leave him." Starfire shuddered.

Raven took a last drink from her cup and stood up. "Well, let's get this over with." Kenkaku rose and headed for the elevator. Raven went to change.

---

Kenkaku's mouth gaped as he looked at the Jump City mall. _"Next time I'm in a motorcycle chase, I'm going through here."_

Raven, wisely, did not translate this. _"Naze?"___

_"So I can beat out the Blues Brothers."_

Raven sweatdropped. The other Titans just looked on at the untranslated exchange in bewilderment. Robin snapped out of it first. "Okay Titans. We aren't here to get a huge PR boost. We're here to shop. So here's the plan. Cyborg will set up an initial distraction, as he's the most noticeable. The rest of us will try to sneak in. If that doesn't work, Starfire and I will join Cyborg. Raven, Kenkaku, you guys are going in last. You are after all, the least noticeable, and Kenkaku needs this trip the most. A translator too." The Titans and Kenkaku nodded. He removed his swords from his belt and placed them in the back of the T-car reluctantly. Robin noticed the metahuman's hesitation. "Do you take those with you -everywhere-?"

Kenkaku smiled sheepishly, nodding. He closed the T-car's door and Cyborg locked it. Suddenly Kenkaku dashed forwards and grabbed Robin's bo. The staff extended in his hands, and he pointed to it, smirking. Raven raised an eyebrow. "Guess ronin-boy here isn't the only one."

Robin had a shocked and slightly pissed look on his face. Shocked at Kenkaku's discovery, and slightly pissed at Raven's quip. _Just keep cool. Remember the blackmail material, _he thought, trying to keep calm. _He's pretty good if he spotted my staff though, _he thought more rationally as he caught the bo, Kenkaku having lobbed it back at him. He put on his commanding face as he stowed the collapsed weapon. "Okay Cyborg. Go in and cause a distraction. Starfire and I will come in a minute or so later from the same direction. If we're clear, I'll call Raven on the com and tell her so. If not, a different ingress is advised. Titans! Go!"

The three 'distractions' moved off leaving a sweatdropping Kenkaku and a sighing Raven behind. _"Do you always do this when you come to the mall?"_

_"Far too often for my tastes.__ Come on, let's go."_

They walked towards the mall.

---

Robin sighed as he and Starfire peered in at Cyborg. Though he had a small crowd, it was nowhere near big enough. There went his mall-time with Starfire. He pulled out the communicator. "You guys had better take another way in. This one is about to be packed." He closed the communicator. "Okay Star, let's go."

"Glorious!"

Robin sweatdropped. "No, not quite."

---

Raven and Kenkaku simply walked into another of the mall's doors with a minimum of fuss. None of that "Oh my god! It's Raven," crap, but rather more of an "Oh my god! What a bish!" crap. Kenkaku was not particularly happy with being glomped by a rather young teenage girl who knew a minimum of Japanese. He didn't even bother listening to her broken attempts to communicate. _"Raven-s…" _He got an idea. _"Raven-chan, help!"_The half-demon looked at him like he had lost his mind. _"Play along!"_

Raven put on her best angry face and grabbed the shoulder of the fangirl. "Hands off my boyfriend, tramp."

Raven's best angry face was quite a good one. The fangirl melted under it, releasing Kenkaku and backing off. _"Gomen nasai!"___

The wave man rolled his eyes. _"No need to kill her koishii," _he said as he put his hands on her shoulder. _"Shall we go?"_

_"Un."_The metahumans walked into the mall, leaving the thoroughly frightened fangirl behind.

As soon as they had gotten a ways into the mall Kenkaku turned around and stared at the door. _"Kami-sama, do I hate fangirls!" _He ran his hand through his long brown hair. _"This stuff can be more trouble than it's worth."_

_"So why don't you cut it?"_

_"Hell no.__ I happen to like it. And the general consensus is that it looks good. Ronin aren't without hearts you know. Wandering just generally gets in the way of a relationship. If I ever settle somewhere…" _He left that unfinished. _"Ah, who knows. Ain't like the future is set."_

Raven blinked a few times before changing the subject. _"So where are we going? Clothing store?"_

_"Bass and Pro Shop."___

_"Why?"_

_"Duffle."___

_"But you need clothes, so…"_

_"DUFFLE," _said Kenkaku firmly.

---

The two Japanese-speaking teens walked out of the outdoors store, one with a smile on his face and a duffle on his back, the strap across his front, the other with a glare for the shop and the sheer number of survivalists it contained.

_"Hey, I didn't know it would be a sale for survival gear today!"_ apologized Kenkaku as they walked.

_"Whatever. Clothing store so we can get you into something that isn't threadbare, then to the book store, so you can show me that book. For your sake, a bunch of people had better die in it."_

_"I thank Kami-sama for him giving me my particular taste in books. Hey, I'll even buy you a anthology of H.P. Lovecraft to make up for -that-." _He pointed back at the store, filled with survivalists that didn't know how to treat teenage girls.

_"Why not?__ Better than flowers and candy."_

Kenkaku raised an eyebrow at that. They had reached the clothing store that Raven had pegged for comfortable, durable clothing, with a little style thrown in. Kenkaku wore some very somber colors. Black, dark blue, dark green, and dark gray pretty much summed up what he was willing to wear. He picked out a number of plain black, and dark blue t-shirts, along with a few long sleeve shirts in the same colors, pants in dark green and dark blue, and a dark blue motorcycle jacket, eschewing the old leather jacket style. His was made of more modern materials. He figured that those would do for clothing outside of some generic boxers, which he grabbed when Raven wasn't looking and buried in the pile.

Raven looked over the pile of clothing. _"No costume?"_

_"Never really had one.__ Though…" _His eyes scanned the store. _"Yeah, maybe."_He picked out a pair of pants made out of the jacket's material, but colored in black with dark gray trim. A matching jacket went with them, with a place for a patch. He picked up a silver shirt but rejected it. _"Hell no.__ I'd blind myself with this." _He chose another dark blue T-shirt simply for color variety before choosing the last of his clothing. A pair of predictably black and dark gray combat boot/sneaker hybrids, and a pair of Birkenstocks. To Raven's curious glance he replied: _"What? They're comfortable."_

_"Anything else?"___

_"Um, maybe a pair of patches for the jackets."___

_"How about socks?" _she asked as she held up an economy-sized bag.

_"Yeah, those too," _replied Kenkaku as he scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly. He and Raven went the front to pay, only stopping to get a pair of patches of the same style with different color schemes. Each was a stretched hexagon with trim with the kanji _ken_ on it. One was mostly black with dark gray trim and the kanji stitched in sliver and the other was primarily dark blue with the trim and kanji in black. Three guesses as to which one was intended for which jacket, and the first two don't count.

Raven put everything onto a business credit card for the Titans. Kenkaku took the duffle that had left at the counter, and stuffed most of the clothes into it. He left out the dark blue jacket, a pair of dark green pants, and a dark blue t-shirt along with the boots, a pair of socks and of course, the appropriate undergarment. Some quick work with some thread and an application of telekinesis bonded the black and blue patch to the jacket. Kenkaku then changed into his new clothes, his old threads occupying a trash can, his belt the sole remaining survivor of his previous outfit.

_"Ah!" _He stretched and slung his duffle over his back, the strap going across his chest like a bandoleer. _"To the bookstore, milady?"___

_"Let's go."_

---

Robin and Starfire finally broke away from the crowd as it dispersed to a level that Cyborg could manage to entertain easily. "Hey Star?"

"Yes Robin?"

"You want to get a bite to eat?"

"I think I would like that very much."

As the human and the Tamaranian turned to walk off, their hands brushed against each other. It would've been the perfect time for a 'to hell with it' moment. But instead of clasping hands, the two merely blushed, looked away, and continued walking.

Cyborg watched as the two missed the opportunity and sighed, before turning back to the crowd and keeping their attention on him. If he could keep the crowd occupied a little longer, maybe, just maybe they could get another moment like that.

_And TAKE it! _growled Cyborg mentally. He was getting sick and tired of watching the two of them dance around it. _Hmm, maybe switching through my arm weapon modes will keep their attention. _He suited action to though, cycling through the sonic stun cannon/disruptor, the low-yield plasma rifle, the laser rifle, the charged particle cannon and the multi-barrel autocannon. The first was a mode for both arms, the second and third, left-arm weapons, and the last two were right arm weapons. He did not show off his missile weaponry.

But even as he was entertaining the crowd, a fat nutjob with a remote was plotting to make life miserable for him and the rest of the mall's population.

_---_

Raven and Kenkaku walked out of the B. Dalton with a number of books. As promised, the swordsman had bought her a -very- nice anthology of H.P. Lovecraft's work, along with showing her Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, which she immediately bought a copy of. Kenkaku got a copy of Battle Royale himself, as he had lost his old copy in the hovertank incident, along with his old duffle. He also bought a copy of a historical fiction set in the Meiji Revolution. Predictably, these went into the duffle.

_"You seem to have good tastes in books, Kenkaku-san."_

_"I should hope so. Oh, and for your information, Battle Royale is also both a movie and a manga." _The two of them headed out to the car to stow their purchases.

_"Really?__ We should watch it for a movie night."_

_"You might have a wee bit of trouble getting it past Mr. Red Breast."_

_"Ah, if we both…"_

_"I'm not a Titan, Raven-san."_

_Stupid! _raged Raven at herself. _"That's true. I forgot."_

_"Everyone's entitled to a few mistakes, Raven-san. At least you aren't making them in battle." _They had reached the car. Raven unlocked it and they put their purchases in. _"Hey, Raven-san, want to cause a stir? Let's go back in wearing uniforms."_

She pointed at her casual attire, a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve dark purple  turtleneck. _"I don't exactly have the costume on."_

He smirked. _"You've got the leotard on with the sleeves hiding the rolled up half gloves. And I'm willing to be that you've got an extra cloak in the car."_

_"Well, yes, I do. But there's no need to…" _She was cut off by the sound of screaming. Kenkaku was already changing. _"What's the point of changing?"_

_"Riding outfit will protect me better. I didn't just pick it for it's resemblance to Kanesada. Mind you, that was a major factor."_ The two outfits were easily switched, Raven busy finding her cloak and getting rid of the casual clothes. Kenkaku had only grabbed Kanesada when Raven grabbed his arm and shadow warped him to the scene of whatever had happened. Well, at least he had the only the katana, rather than only the bokken.

What greeted him when he and Raven emerged in a service hallway was a scene straight out of the mind of someone that seriously needed some medication. Mannequins were marching around with bladed weapons from a swords shop, directed by a few sets of overly showy samurai armor, presumably also from the sword shop. A Suncoast nearby provided a number of characters from old black-and-white movies, and a number of TV shows. Kenkaku wasn't particularly happy with seeing the bandits from the Seven Samurai, but was glad not to see Alf. The Big Bird worried him though. Especially considering it was holding a naginata. So did the Elmo with a nasty-looking kris knife.

He shook his head and looked at an Electronics Boutique. Miniature Battlemechs came stomping out of it, still around seven feet tall, a little shorter than Cyborg. So did Jak from Jak II and Ashelin from the same game. And in the middle of all this floated a fat man with Cheetos-stained fingers with a phaser in one hand and a remote control in the other. To Kenkaku he looked as if he was a strange impression of both Baron Harkkonen of Dune and Mickey from the Sorcerer's Apprentice. An unlit lightsaber hung from his very long belt. He laughed maniacally.

_"I'm officially freaked out now. Who the hell is that?"_

_"His name is Control Freak. He can animate objects with that remote of his, and make fictional characters real."_

_"So I gathered. That looks like far too much firepower to handle on our own. Going to call the others?"_

_"Oh yeah."_Raven pulled out the communicator. "Titans. This is Raven. Control Freak is at the mall. Kenkaku and I are on the scene."

"Cyborg here. I'm coming."

"Beast Boy. Why does this have to interrupt my breakfast?"

"Shut up and get moving!" yelled Cyborg.

"Where are Robin and Starfire?" interjected Raven.

"Getting some alone time if my plan worked right," answered Cyborg. "I didn't plan on Control Freak being here."

"Robin with his communicator off?" asked Beast Boy disbelievingly. "No way."

_"Deretto baka are the same the world round."_

"What'd he say?"

"Lovestruck fools are the same the world round. I agree. Nothing short of dragging the fight past them will get them into it."

"Beast Boy, when you get in position, tell me. When I give the signal, we all attack at once. That includes you, Kenkaku."

_"Youkai."_Kenkaku popped Kanesada and placed his hand on the tsuka, ready to iaijutsu.

"Roger," translated Raven.

"Beast Boy here. I'm on the roof. Ready to come through the skylight."

"Okay. TITANS! GO!"

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

Cyborg opened up with his autocannon as Raven and Kenkaku dashed out of the hall. "AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" Shards of glass from smashed store windows glowed black, then streaked through the air, cutting into the suddenly real bandits. Black blood spurted from their wounds, then they faded from existence.

'SHING!'

Kanesada made its battle debut in a blindingly fast iaijutsu. The ronin followed up with a series of slashes that seemed to leave shining trails behind. Bladesong filled the air. A small knot of the mannequins burst into pieces. As more crowded around him he focused his ki and…

_"**KIAI!**"_Kenkaku got it right this time. A wave of invisible force pulsed from him, knocking the blade-wielding clothing dummies backwards.

'CRASH!'

Beast Boy burst through the skylight in the midst of a twinkling hail of glass shards. He roared in his tiger form and attacked Jak and Ashelin. Too bad both of them had guns. Jak pulled out his Vulcan Fury while the female elf-like being pulled her pistol.

'ZAP, ZAP, ZAP!'

Yellow pistol blasts missed the emerald tiger. The barrels on the VF gun started to turn, firing slowly at first, but building in speed and the noise of the drive motors.

'TUK…TUK…TUK, TUK, TUK, TUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUK!'

'WheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!'

Beast Boy ran from the sapphire onslaught of the weapon, mewling all the way as the grin on the goateed elf's face grew more disturbing. Not to mention the orange rodent on his shoulder. Daxter's taunts were certainly a pain. Too bad that the two furry ones couldn't meet under better conditions. They'd probably get on just fine…much to the dismay of the Titans and Jak.

Cyborg, meanwhile, was busy with the Battlemechs. He might be a walking arsenal, but the mechs were though up as war machines. Not good odds when outnumbered. He was willing to bet each was more heavily armed than the exo-suit from the ship. Fortunately, he was a Mechwarrior fan. He knew their weaknesses. But a Vulture, two Mad Cats and an Atlas were nothing to sneeze at.

'PSSSSSSSSHOW!'

130 LRMs shot at him. _This probably won't be pleasant, _mused Cyborg as he rolled to the side, employing his built-in jammers.

'TWZANG-KUNG!'

_No, _he decided as the Atlas's Gauss rifle shot trashed a store behind him instead of him, _not pleasant at all._

"HA HA!" laughed Control Freak as he hovered above the strange tableau, "Having fun, Titans?  Nothing personal! Just a job to do! Must get money for my search for Ultimate Truth! You understand."

As Cyborg traded weapons fire with Mechs, Beast Boy ran from elvin weapon fire, Raven threw debris at her black-and-white enemies, and Kanesada destroyed all of its wielder's mannequin foes, Kenkaku yelled something. Lost in the sounds of the fight, had it been translated, one would have distinctly heard "Forty-two!"

---

Meanwhile, in the movie theater, Starfire rested her head on Robin's shoulder as the movie played on, their hands intertwined.

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

Ohayou: "Good morning."

Hai: "Yes."

Ka: "?"

Shua: "Sure."

Anou: "Errr/Well."

Un: "Yeah."

Sencha: "Green tea."

Dozou: "Please."

Domo arigato: "Thank you very much."

Douitashimashite: "You're welcome."

Ja na: "See ya." (Male speak.)

Ja ne: "See ya." (Female speak.)

Iie: "No."

Naze: "Why?"

-san: "Mr./Mrs./Ms." General use honorific.

-chan: "Little/Dear." Used for little siblings, between female friends, and from boyfriend to girlfriend. Guess which one Kenkaku was using? Honorific.

Gomen nasai: "Pardon me." (I'm very sorry.) (Strong.)

Koishii: "Beloved."

Kami-sama: "Lord God."

Deretto: "Lovestruck."

Baka: "Idiots/Fools."

Youkai: "Roger."

Kiai: Battle cry.

Hand-to-hand Weapons:

Bo: Quarterstaff.

Naginata: Japanese polearm. Basically a short sword on a stick.

Katana: Samurai sword.

Bokken: Wooden sword made to emulate the katana. Training tool.

Jitte: Also known in some forms as the sai. A metal rod with a handle and at least one cross piece with another rod on it. Used for trapping and breaking swords.

Rapier: Light weight dueling sword for thrusting and small cuts.

Lightsaber: If you don't know what this is, you have been living under a rock…on another PLANET!

Projectile/Beam Weapons:

Autocannon: Auto-loading cannon. Gatling gun.

Sonic cannon: A device firing high-frequency sound waves. Can do vibrational damage or knock a person out by interfering with the inner ear.

Laser rifle: Fires a laser blast. (Comic style.)

Photon cannon: Souped-up laser rifle.

Plasma cannon/rifle: Fires a bolt of plasma. Splashes on contact. Amount of plasma fired determined by yield.

Charged particle cannon: fires a packet (called a bolt) of electrons or protons at something.

Phaser: Star Trek energy weapon. Can either stun or burn.

LRM: Long Ranged Missile

Gauss rifle: Railgun.

Metahumans:

Teen Titans:

Robin

Real name: Timothy Drake

Genetics: Caucasian

Superpowers: None

Martial Arts: A unknown form of hand-to-hand combat involving use of a bo.

Weapons/Equipment: Extendable bo, Birdarangs, discs which can carry multiple payloads, grappling hook, communicator.

Vehicle: R-cycle

Other skills: Good pilot, fair biker, amazing detective, gamer

Position: Leader/Martial Artist

Cyborg

Real name: Victor Stone

Genetics: African-American/Bionic

Superpower: Enhanced robotic strength, detachable controllable limbs

Martial arts: Brawling

Weapons/Equipment: Sonic cannons, laser rifle, low-yield plasma rifle, particle cannon, autocannon, various missiles and rockets, grappling hook, various scanners, jump jets, communicator.

Vehicle: T-car

Other skills: Mechanical genius, good at keeping morale up, gamer

Position: Second-in-command/Heavy weapons/Brawler

Starfire

Real name: Koriand'r

Genetics: Tamaranian

Superpowers: Alien strength, flight, starbolts, eyeblast

Martial arts: What Robin might've taught her.

Weapons/Equipment: Communicator

Vehicle: None

Other skills: Boundless joy, naivety

Position: Air Combatant/Den Mother

Beast Boy

Real name: Garfield Logan

Genetics: Presumably Caucasian, screwed up by an African disease.

Superpowers: Changeling. Can be any living creature, but will be colored green.

Martial arts: None

Weapons/Equipment: Communicator

Vehicle: None

Other skills: Jokester, gamer

Position: Comic relief/Shape-shifter

Raven

Real name: Unknown.

Genetics: Half-Caucasian/Half-Demon

Superpowers: Telekinesis, Shadow warping, weak empathy, healing, various other magics.

Martial arts: Basic avoidance fighting.

Weapons/Equipment: Communicator

Vehicle: None

Other skills: Meditation, unreliable foresight, logic, intelligence, gamer

Position: Sorceress/Voice of Reason

Unaffiliated:

Kenkaku

Real name: Unknown

Genetics: Roma (Gypsy)

Superpowers: Above average resistance to temperature extremes, high G-force tolerance, ki control, ability to enter a bullettime-like mode by speeding up self, perceptions and reflexes. Anyone of these can be activated individually.

Martial arts: Touki no Fenikkusu kenjutsu and iaijutsu, Kiaijutsu.

Weapons/Equipment: Kanesada and Muramasa (legendary enchanted katana and bokken respectively), duffle bag and whatever might be in it.

Other skills: Meditation, intelligent, smart, adaptable, demon biker, good solo pilot (okay with passengers), gamer.

Archetype: Drifter/Speed swordsman

Kanesada and Muramasa (as explained by Kenkaku):

_My true power comes from Kanesada and its brother, Muramasa. Kanesada is a katana that was given by the emperor to the very first ronin. The blade is 29.5 inches long and moderately curved. The tsuka is 11 inches long. The tsuba, menuki, fuchi kashira, and tip of the saya are made of dull gray steel with a subdued phoenix motif. The same wrapping the handle is a dull gray like the steel, as is the flat cord wrapped near the top of the saya. The ito wrap is black, like the majority of the saya, giving the sword a decidedly evil and downcast look when sheathed, but the habaki is bright brushed brass, almost looking golden, and the blade is a wonderfully polished flawless piece with a very distinct hamon, said to be the most beautiful blade ever forged. I can believe it._

_A number of enchantments were put on the blade. It was made immutable, fated never to change in any way, no matter what happened to it. This made it unbreakable, and never to change from how it was when presented to that fateful first wave man. Secondly, the Kanesada will affect both the natural and supernatural the same. This makes ghostbusting possible, and makes zombies into a simply eradicated problem. Thirdly, the Kanesada can cut or stun, depending on the will of its wielder. If desired to cut, it will to the best of its considerable ability, if desired to stun, the same. I've cut through rock spires with the blade. It is no normal sword when it comes to power. Next, and most importantly, it will be the property of the one that can wield it. There will only ever be one at a time. If anyone but the owner tries to wield it, unpredictable things will happen. No guarantees on what, or even if it will be survivable. The blade is etched with deep, soot-black kanji saying something to this effect near the hilt on one side. And finally, it is bonded with a bokken known as Muramasa. The bokken may be used by anyone the owner of Kanesada wishes, but it will not cut. Outside of that, the enchantments on Kanesada apply to Muramasa as well, including the level of power it can put out and its immutability. Though Muramasa looks like a simple bokken of polished Japanese Maple with a dull gray steel tsuba with the same design as Kanesada's, when taken in hand it feels exactly like an unsheathed Kanesada, down to actually feeling Kanesada's ito wrap._

_That's all I know about them, all I was told, and have learned._

A/N: Well here's another chapter. Nice and long too. I decided to give some extra background info this time to lay down the assumed laws of this world. The plot is progressing nicely, and we should have some wicked action in the next chapter.

By the way, concerning the Japanese, the somewhat controversial point in this story. I've decided on a new pattern. If two Japanese speakers are alone, the text will be plain italicized english. If there is a non-fluent person in the conversation, expect flavor text. If there are only non-fluent speakers, the text will be all Japanese. Therefore, Kenkaku will not talk much when Raven is not around. It might shock some of you to know this, but I am not fluent in Japanese. However, I am fluent in fanfiction, as well as the lost language known as review replies. So drop a review with you email in it, and get a nice thank you from me. Now review before I sic Kenkaku on you. Ja na!


	6. Driftwood: Part 5

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

A/N: I am kind of disappointed in the amount of reviews I've been getting. I put my stuff up here to see what others think of it, good or bad. That applies to every chapter I put up. If you have an opinion, comment, or question. Please! Please tell me.

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Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

Kenkaku cursed as he ducked under an overly large battle-axe. The weapon was a cheap fantasy design, but he wasn't feeling real eager to test how much damage it would do. A rising stroke from Kanesada opened the dummy from hip to shoulder, 'killing' it. This was taking way too long. And worse yet, with a sword shop, a video game store, and a movie shop, it didn't look like the corpulent criminal called Control Freak was going to run out of soldiers or weapons for them anytime soon. _"**KIAI!**"_ Another pulse of ki energy drove his enemies back. He had pretty much mastered that technique.

'ZAP!'

_Great.__ Now he's taking potshots with that phaser of his. _Kenkaku jumped back, avoiding the energy blast, and stabbing backwards with Kanesada. Another dummy fell to the enchanted blade. _I wish I could go into my accelerated mode, but I couldn't hear battle plans then._

Cyborg shattered the cockpit glass of one of the Mad Cats with a sonic blast before pumping it full of lead. "Boo-yah!" The mech fell to the side, knocking into the Atlas, which seemed not to have even felt the impact.

'TWAZANG-KUNG!'

The Gauss rifle shot blew a rather large crater in the ground next to Cyborg. He jumped back, switching his autocannon over to his particle cannon.

'TSSSAP!'

Red and green beams lanced out at him, striking his legs. Armor boiled off under the caress of the lasers. The remaining Mad Cat's machine guns opened fire. Thankfully, due to the scale, the bullets were smaller than BB pellets. The projectiles sparked against Cyborg's torso. "Ha-hah!"

'Chu-thunk.'

That was the sound of missile racks reloading. "Oh, shit." Cyborg dove for cover even as the Mechs fired.

'PSSSHOW!'

'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!'

Missiles scoured the area Cyborg was in. But his jammers had done their job, albeit incompletely. He had only taken a few hits, but what he had taken took his missile armament out of commission. He did, however, still have the particle cannon.

'BZAM!'

Cyborg's particle cannon was a -very- powerful weapon. So much so that he didn't usually equip it at all. It was by pure chance that he had grabbed the wrong arm and had the heavy energy weapon today. But he wasn't complaining. The bolt ripped the left leg clear off the Atlas, sending the assault mech face first into the ground.

'BZAM!'

The shot cored the Vulture, ripping the mech apart. Now Cy ran into the particle cannon's other limitation. Namely, the fact that it only could store two shots at a time in its capacitors, and each shot took 15 minutes to charge.

'TSSSAP!'

More streams of laser energy hit Cyborg, boiling away at his armor. _I just had to save a Mad Cat for last, didn't I? _groaned Cyborg mentally, as warning alarms flashed in his mind.

Beast Boy ran as a wolf from the elf-like creatures with energy weapons. They had too much damn stamina, even keeping up with the wolf form in the roundabout run he had taken. Beast Boy had forgotten that the game they came from didn't involve getting tired, therefore they wouldn't. The game did involved getting killed though.

Beast Boy ran within Kanesada's range, and the long-eared creatures followed. They fell to a spinning left-handed slash that flew right over Beast Boy, clearing out as much room around Kenkaku as was possible.

'SSSSSSSLICH!'

 Beast Boy morphed to Velociraptor form and backed Kenkaku up against the dummies. His tail smashed three of them aside and his clawed legs opened ragged tears in the cloth and plastic constructs. "Hey man! Help out Raven! I can take out theses guys!"

Kenkaku's eyes shot over to the beleaguered Raven, whose supply of opponents was far too great. And Control Freak was moving into the gangster movies. He spun his finger in the air and went into an accelerated mode. Sound distorted into the strange sensation that gave accelerated mode such a profound sense of unreality. Interestingly enough, the distortion before the complete switch sounded much like how the Matrix had it. Beast Boy caught the hint, spinning around in a tail strike.

'Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeoom.'

Kenkaku jumped and planted his feet on the swinging tail, using it as a springboard to launch him towards Raven. As he flew at the wall of enemies separating her from the rest of the heroes, he spun Kanesada in a propeller like motion, angled forwards. Though it seemed like a medium speed spin to him, all any of the others could see was a solid cone of white, light flashing off of Kanesada's blade. 

He shot through the lines of remote-generated enemies much like Cyborg's particle cannon blast had gone through armor. He rolled as he hit the ground, coming out of accelerated mode with the distortion in reverse this time. He popped up next to Raven. _"Gashi!"_ said Kenkaku in a cheerful tone, totally belying the carnage he had wreaked to get there.

_"Keep them off of me. You take melee, I take ranged."_

_"Puncture the lardass while you're at it wouldja? He's pissing me off!"_

_"You're not the only one, Kenkaku-san."_

_"**KIAI!**"_Kenkaku lunged at the movie characters, going back into speed mode. Kanesada flashed as he cut into the wave. He came out of acceleration in a pocket in the enemy force. The bright blade of Kanesada jumped from foe to foe, ending fake life after fake life.

"Looks like someone figured out bullet time." Control Freak zapped a rack of DVD copies of the Matrix Reloaded. Agent Smith upon Agent Smith came pouring out. "Alright Ichi, let's see how you fare!"

_"Dodge this."_ Raven sent a telekinetic barrage at the Smiths, forgetting their dodging skills. A few Smiths went down, but only through sheer density of the wave of projectiles. As they pulled out their Desert Eagles, she grabbed them all with a spell, lining them up in mid-air and using them on other, less elusive opponents. A sheet of lead crushed the mobsters. As they ran out of ammo, she flung them at her opponents as she would normally do.

Disarmed, the Smiths ran at Kenkaku, who unlike Neo, was not possessed of super strength. He was as fast though, and had a legendary sword. That should count for something right?

'Wheeeeeeeeeeeeoom.'

Definitely. Kanesada stabbed into the leading Smith's neck and Kenkaku used the blunt edge of the blade to throw the rouge agent at his copies, locking the blade against the jaw and skull before flinging him off it. Sound once again distorted. As a Smith punched at him, Kanesada severed the attacking arm then stabbed through the Smith's chest.

The ronin ripped the blade out of Smith and straight into another, lopping him off at the waist. A Smith jumped through the air at him as the others moved to encircle him. He caught Kanesada to the chest and went flying into a segment of the circle, knocking the angry programs over. Kenkaku had opted to simply impart force, not cut. The impact had still 'killed' the creation, but it let him use the corpse creatively. The dazed Smiths ended up near Raven's position. She had just finished off the last of her batch of opponents for the moment, so she seized their bodies and started using them as projectiles in support of Kenkaku. "Aw, how sweet, Trinity," mocked Control Freak. "But we all know how you fare!"

She shot a Smith at him. The fat man hovered out of the way on the suddenly-real Holtzman effect. The Smith buried itself in the ceiling.

'CRUNCH!'

_"Kutabare!__ Monshi!" _Yes, Raven was still speaking in Japanese.

"Such language!" Well, Control Freak certainly seemed to understand it, even if he wasn't speaking it. "Well, must congratulate you on your fine catch. Quite a bishounen. To bad you won't have much time to enjoy him. I'll leave you lovebirds with the Smith family here. Your friends need some more company."

The 'bish' heard precisely none of this, still in acceleration mode. Kanesada was moving close in and in such a way that it looked more like a pair of glowing nunchaku. On the other hand, nunchaku don't cut. With so little room to swing in, he had to go back to the cutting, as it wasn't possible to bring enough force to bear.

Raven moved to assist him.

---

Cyborg's plan to get Robin and Starfire to just admit it already had just…

"Star, I…Kory…" stuttered Robin.

"Yes Robin?" Starfire looked up from his lap with hopeful green eyes.

"I…I think I…L…Loveyou!"

Starfire dragged Robin down for a kiss. Hey, actions speak louder than words.

…succeeded. Well, kinda.

You see, Starfire had her head on Robin's lap as he said this. They were sitting on a mall bench as this happened. Therefore when Starfire pulled Robin's head down, she kinda dragged him out from under her and twisted him through the air so that he would land lying on her. Rather unfortunate that she was filled with the -boundless confidence- that everything would be wonderful from there on out. In any case, the bench shattered under them.

'Smash!'

But as they lay slightly dazed on the floor, they got their kiss. Suddenly a Smith, somewhat the worse for wear, came walking around the corner and attacked them. He had been flung by Raven, and disoriented by the landing, had come in search of fresh targets.

What he got was a fresh can of whoop-ass. Robin flipped up and smashed his bo into the already-damaged Smith before Starfire gave it a very large starbolt for interrupting them. It died and faded away. "Control Freak," growled Robin. He switched on his communicator.

The sounds of a pitched battle came over it. Robin and Starfire didn't even need to exchange words as she grabbed him and flew off the way the Smith had come.

---

As Robin hung from Starfire's arms, he evaluated the battle. Even with the nearly endless hordes, the Titans were faring fairly well. They had split into combat pairs, BB and Cy supporting one another as Raven and Kenkaku teamed up. Each group had one person playing the role of ranged combatant, Raven and Cyborg, and one playing the role of brawler, Beast Boy and Kenkaku.

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

The plan was kinda falling apart in Beast Boy and Cyborg's case. They were hiding behind whatever cover they could find, facing an onslaught of machine gun fire from a bunch of enemy drones from FPSs. Cyborg stuck his autocannon out from behind cover and blazed away, his fire scything through the goons, but like they did in those games, they kept on coming. Some were smarter than the others though. Some of them just stood there, some shot their own comrades accidentally, but some seemed almost human. Control Freak had not, unfortunately, included any shotgun-armed enemies from Max Payne. If he had, the odds would have been a lot better.

An enemy dashed at them with an assault rifle. Cyborg's fire caught him and he went flying back, shredded. He had been from Soldier of Fortune II. His SAW slid to next to Beast Boy. The elf shrugged, turned into a monkey, grabbed the machine gun with his tail, and pulled it over to him. The weapon was far too large for him to handle so he went gorilla and broke off the trigger guard before laying into the enemies with his stolen weapon, blind-firing much like Cyborg.

Actually, it wasn't working too well for the other pair either. Kenkaku was covered in Smiths, much like Neo, and Kanesada lay on the ground, far out of his reach. Raven made to pick it up and help him, but a shout stopped her. _"IYA!__ DO NOT TOUCH KANESADA! IT'S DANGEROUS!"_

_"Then what do I do!?" _She tried to strip the Agents from him with TK, but it wasn't working well.

_"I don't need super strength to get people off me! **KIAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**" _

'SHOOM!'

The Smiths went flying, dead.  Kenkaku stood up shakily, shook his head, grabbed Kanesada, and was suddenly looking a lot better. He was still rather disheveled however. Robin guessed that he had simply regained some ki by simply having Kanesada in hand. They looked ready to help Cyborg and Beast Boy, or at least go after Control Freak when Neo and Trinity stepped out of the store.

_"Neo's mine," _said the ronin, swinging Kanesada at Neo. The main character from the Matrix blocked with a hand, much like he did in the movie. Or at least he tried to. Kanesada simply sliced part of his hand off. Kenkaku flicked the blood off the blade before sheathing it, then drawing the blade in a slash so fast it couldn't be seen. This was then followed by a series of lightning-fast slashes, including a final downward stroke that hit the ground and tore a fissure in the mall floor.

'PSLECK! CRRRRBRUM!'

 Neo burst into chunks and the video store's entrance collapsed. The wave man panted, as he whispered the name of the technique. _"Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu Iaijutsu kyou Fenikkusu no Tsume."_ He was very pale. Raven simply bashed Trinity against the ground with her TK, smashing open the woman's head. Kenkaku fell to one knee, holding himself up with his katana. Raven moved to assist her combat partner.

The gun battle had killed the last of the mannequins. Robin quickly formulated a plan. "Star, you'll back me up. You're going to drop me, then make a strafing run. I'll run in and finish off what you don't. He pulled out the communicator. "Cyborg, Beast Boy! Stop firing!"

In both cases, it was a moot point for the weapons they currently had enabled. Both had run dry. The two male Titans went completely behind cover as Starfire dropped Robin and flew low across the battlefield, releasing the fury of her starbolts.

'ZAK, ZAK, ZAK, ZAK, ZAK! BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM! THUNK! SSSS-THUNK!'

Robin landed running and threw three fistfuls of discs. He dispatched the last few FPS fodder with his bo and looked around. The Titans and Kenkaku walked up, all (except Robin and Starfire) nursing medium-level wounds. "Dude," asked Beast Boy, "Where's Control Freak?" None of them had an answer.

But someone did.

"Collecting his payment." The speaker stepped out from the shadows. It was the knife fighter from the hovertank. He had dirty-blonde hair in a buzz cut, somewhat ugly features, a road rash, presumably from when Starfire had gotten him, and two very large bowie knives in his fists. "I, however, am here for a fight."

As the Titans snapped to battle readiness, he shook his head. "Only with one before me is my fight. I wish to take on the wielder of Kanesada."

_"You won't be able to use Kanesada, if that's what you're after,"_ said Kenkaku wearily.

_"Iie.__ I may not be able to use it, but there is someone else who can."_

_"They are deluding themselves. The legend clearly states…"_

_"Are you sure you know the full legend?" _interrupted the other man.

_"Iie."_ Kenkaku sagged.

_"Then do not lecture me. Fight me." _He held up his knives.

_"Ii ka.. Shimei, ka?"_

_"Brute."___

_"Kenkaku."_Kenkaku assumed a ready stance.

_"You aren't seriously…"_ started Raven.

_"Hai," _he affirmed.

"Hold it!" yelled Robin, seeing what was happening, "You can't fight him now!"

_"Hajimeru!"_ yelled Kenkaku, attacking in an easy-to-predict jump slash. Crossed bowie knives caught the katana, the two combatants face-to-face.

'CLANG!'

"You could do with some fighting skill. I fail to see why Kanesada chose you."

The ronin just smirked. _"**Kiai.**"_Brute froze, his major muscles paralyzed. Kenkaku pushed him over.

"No matter. The others will come. You shall not leave this place until we are all defeated or Kanesada is ours," spat Brute.

This was the last thing Kenkaku heard before he passed out.

---

 Kenkaku awoke in the backseat of the T-car, Raven looking over him. _"You seem to be passing out a lot,"_ she observed, halfway amusedly.

_"That's what I get for playing fast and loose with my ki,"_ he groaned. He sat up. _"Where are the others?"_

_"Finishing up in the mall.__ Cyborg and Beast Boy headed for the arcade…"_ answered the mage.

_"Of course."___

_"Yes, and Robin and Starfire are off doing something or other. They already took care of the press release. You've been mentioned merely as a friendly superhero. I think the father and mother of the dysfunctional family known as the Titans finally hooked up."_

_"That's nice to hear. So what are the other roles?" _asked an interested wave man.

_"Well, Cyborg is the jock older brother, I'm the depressing but intelligent sister, and Beast Boy is the class clown younger brother. If I was to add you, I'd say crazy boarder." _

_"Sounds about right."___

_"So what are you going to do?"_

_"Head off to Japan, I guess. This city is a black hole for my ki." _He stretched. _"On the other hand, I seem to recover it a lot faster here. Whatever."_

_"Not heeding that guy's orders?"_

_"You mean Brute-san? I'm not scared of guys like him." _He gave a sad smile. _"I've gotten very good at wandering."_

_"I guess you have." _She had nothing to offer but a frown.

---

The Titans watched as the ship left, Kenkaku waving to them from the stern. _"SAYONARA!" _he yelled. The Titans all yelled their good-byes back, turned, and walked away. Except Raven. She stood there a while longer, her cloak blowing around her in the ocean breeze.

"Right person, wrong circumstances?" asked Cyborg quietly as he walked up behind her.

The waves were going screwy, coated in obsidian energy, but Raven didn't care. "For both of us, I think."

"Life can be like that," said Cyborg sagely. "You'll see. It'll turn out alright."

"Yeah." She looked down at the waves. "I need to meditate."

"Well, see you back at the tower." Cyborg walked off.

_"Sayonara, Kenkaku-KUN."_ She turned around and walked off.

---

The sun was setting as Raven decided to go outside to meditate. She had just reached the bottom of the tower and was about to open the door when…

'Knock, knock, knock.'

'Drip, drip, drip, drip.'

Raven opened the door to see a very wet, duffle-toting, sword-wearing, long haired teen in an outfit she had seen bought that very day standing there before her. _"Okay, so maybe I'm not as good at wandering as I thought. How's the rent here?"_

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

Kiai: Battle cry

Gashi: "Greetings."

-san: Honorific. I've already explained it.

Ichi: "One."

Kutabare: "Fuck you."

Monshi: "Die in agony."

Bishounen: "Pretty boy."

Iya: "No." (Strong)

Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu Iaijutsu kyou Fenikkusu no Tsume: "Fighting Spirit of the Phoenix School, Sword Draw and Talons of the Phoenix."

Iie: "No."

Ii ka: "Fine then."

Shimei: "Name."

Ka: "?"

Hai: "Yes."

Hajimeru: "Begin."

Sayonara: "Good-bye."

-Kun: Honorific. Can be used in a superior to inferior form (uncommon), to a friend, and from a girl to her male love, as well as occasionally from both sides. We're seeing a blend of #s 2 and 3 here.

---

A/N: Here's the end of our first episode: Driftwood. Questions shall be answered, the plot shall advance, comedy shall present itself, and of course, more over-the top action will put James Bond movies to shame. Tune in next time. And please review.


	7. Nesting Phoenix

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

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Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

_"Wh…What are you doing here?" _asked Raven, blushing a bit under her hood, the shadow hiding this. _Focus! _Nothing melted or went flying, to her great relief.

_"The ship I was on sunk," _deadpanned the ronin.

Raven arched an eyebrow under her hood. _"You must be joking."_

_"Okay, so it wasn't so much sunk as it was sank. I'm even the only one that went into the ocean."_

_"What?" _This was strange.

_"Some nutjob with a claymore ripped a hole in the side of the ship, then got in a fight with me. Everyone else got out, and he jumped into another boat that was waiting for him. I got to swim back to shore. Not pleasant at all," _grumbled the wave man.

_"Was he affiliated with Brute?"_

_"Insomuch as he repeated the same command, warning me that next time, people would die if I tried to get away, and he was a nut with a blade or two on him, I'd say yes, yes he was," _said Kenkaku in a light tone.

_"And unlike Brute, he gave you trouble?"_ Raven was a bit skeptical. Kenkaku was an elemental force with Kanesada in hand, at least as far as she could tell. Okay, so steel is an alloy, not an element!

_"He was a -lot- better, and he wasn't affected by the knockout or paralysis technique. And I wasn't about to kill him. He had a crappy name too."_

_"And this was?"_

_"Highlander.__ Now, it's nice to see you and all, but I'm about to continue a pattern. Sorry." _He passed out, falling into Raven's arms.

_"Nice to see you too," _whispered Raven as she caught him, not noticing the winds going crazy.

---

"Guess who's back?" asked Raven in her normal flat tone as the elevator doors opened on the main room. None of the other Titans so much glanced back at her, too engrossed in a four-player game of Timesplitters 2. Starfire was losing by a wide margin, even though Robin was doing his best to not kill her, and in some situations, protect her. This had somewhat hindered his score. Cyborg and Beast Boy were trading off the lead.

"You, Friend Raven?" asked Starfire, with a technically true guess.

Raven sweatdropped. "I suppose that is true."

"Glorious!" exclaimed Starfire. Not only had she got the riddle right, she had just fragged Beast Boy.

"What happened to the meditation?" asked Cyborg interestedly as he lobbed grenades at Robin. He of course, knew exactly why she had gone outside to meditate. Obviously, it surprised him that she'd be back so soon.

"Who," deadpanned Raven.

"Eh?"

"-Who- happened to my meditation. Not what."

"Ah. Dammit, Beast Boy! Hah! So who happened to it?"

"Who do we know with long hair, a propensity for getting soaked, who considers a duffle to be a fashion accessory, carries around a stick of wood, and a sharpened one of steel, passes out regularly, and speaks only Japanese?" -That- got their attention.

"What?" The Titans spun around.

"Hint: I'm supporting his very moist unconscious body as we speak," grunted Raven.

"KENKAKU?" asked the four other Titans simultaneously.

The rather loud question restored some level of consciousness to the waterlogged wave man. _"Gashi," _he said, waving weakly. He went out like a light again.

---

Kenkaku slept in a guest room as Raven filled in the other Titans on his situation.

"Any questions?" asked the half-demon.

"In a manner of speaking," answered Robin. "So it's safe to assume that he's stuck in Jump City for a while?"

"I would think so."

"Also safe to assume that he needs a place to stay?"

"Probably," answered Raven, liking where this was going, even if she would deny that fact mightily.

"Well, I think we could have him stay here a while." A good answer. Not perfect but good. And it was well within her range of control to not show after that answer.

"Hey!" said Cyborg, "Why stop there? Let's make him an honorary Titan at least. He's got the skills, and he has proven himself in battle. The passing out all the time is a little annoying, but I'm sure he can fix that."

Raven -liked- this idea. Though she was very glad Cyborg had made the suggestion, she was getting awfully close to the point where her powers might go wild.

"Hmm," mused Robin, "That's fine by me."

"Hold it," Beast Boy spoke up. "Are we forgetting the last Titan we took on?"

Okay, that held the Titans up. Beast Boy was most affected by the girl with the name of the planet they stood upon, but the other Titans were hardly untouched. Raven's mind spun. She had been suspicious of Terra, but never of Kenkaku, but then, she was hardly the best judge of such things in this case. Even if he had never seemed anything but genuine, for someone who could control their ki like him, so it would follow that they could control their emotions.

"Not the same situation, Beast Boy." Thank the once-again nameless deity for Robin. "I haven't seen anything to mark the situation as one that Slade has his hands in, and can anyone say that they really suspect the guy?"

None of the Titans really could. "But we didn't suspect her, either," pointed out Beast Boy.

"I did," answered Raven.

Robin shook his head. "We're wiser now. We'll be careful. But I think we should invite him." The rest of the Titans nodded. "Raven, if you would go check on him and give him the news?"

---

_"Are you feeling alright?"_

Kenkaku blinked a couple of times. He was not used to waking up to a) a voice and b) a voice speaking Japanese. On the other hand, the voice was familiar. He smiled. _"Hello, Raven-san. Yes, yes I am."_

She smiled slightly. _"Good to hear."_

He sat up and swung his legs off the bed, stretching.

_"Why did you pass out when you showed up at the door?"_

_"Oh. Well, I used another technique of kiaijutsu that lets one free their body from pain, fatigue, and lack of energy, but drains one's ki. It can be useful, but only if one has friends in the area. Such as yourself and the rest of the Titans, Raven-san."_

Raven gave a tiny frown. _"Aren't you using the wrong honorific, Kenkaku-kun?"_

He smiled. _"I guess I am, Raven-kun." _His smile turned a bit sad. _"Well, I had better be going. Can't impose on you…" _He started to stand up.

Raven's hand placed something in his. _"What the…"_ It was a Titans communicator. _"Raven-kun…" _He turned to look at her.

_"It's honorary. No strings attached. But if you ever want to…" _She trailed off, then started again. _"And only if you want to for this."_

He clutched the communicator. _"Yeah, sounds good to me." _He smiled. _"Sounds really good.__ And as an honorary Titan, I assume I'm to help out while in the city?"_

_"Only if you want to stay at the Tower."___

_"I'm not quite that lazy."_ He smirked. _"I guess I might be able to help out with taking out the trash. Besides, it'll be nice to live off of something other than protein bars."_

_"Good. Now, I don't care what you say, I owe you a sportsbike. What would your favorite be?"_

_"Well, the Suzuki Hayabusa might be the fastest, but I'm rather partial to __Kawasaki__'s Ninja series, mostly the ZX-10R and ZX-12R models. But we're talking 11,000 dollars here, Raven-kun! You really shouldn't be spending that much on me, for any reason."_

_"Don't worry about it. Now, do you want me to show you to your room?"_

_"After you, milady."___

---

_"This is a pretty nice guest room," _commented Kenkaku as he looked around the room Raven had delivered him to.

_"There's plenty of room in the tower, what with only five people staying here normally and it being the size of most small skyscrapers."_

_"True." _He set his duffle down on the bed and looked around. _"Who built this place anyway?"_

_"Cyborg-san's dad did," _replied Raven, shrugging. _"Don't ask me why, or for what."_

_"Or why in the shape of a T."_Kenkaku raised an eyebrow. _"Looks like Cyborg-san had a kinda strange dad."_ He took his swords from his belt, and flopped back on the bed. _"Oooh.__ This is -soft-. Sinfully soft."_

_ "You find the accommodations pleasing, neh?"_

_"Yeah."_He sat up. _"Is there a fairly open and solitary place on the island?"_

_"I suppose so, yes. Why?"_

_"I have kata to do, and should meditate."_ He put the swords back in place on his belt and stood up.

_"You meditate?" _asked Raven, surprised.

_"Yeah.__ Comes with the territory. Zen meditation is a rather standard part of both kenjutsu and kiaijutsu."_

_"I guess so."_

_"So, any good places around here?"_

_"I generally head for the roof or my room. Sounds like you would need the roof."_

_"Mind showing me the way?"_

_"Not at all."___

---

"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos." The cool night air blew across Raven's face as she opened her purple eyes and looked out through the night at her meditation 'partner'.

He had said nothing through the entire session, sitting in seiza, hands on his knees, eyes closed as he sat upright, with absolutely no expression gracing his features. Kanesada and Muramasa lay in front of him in what looked to be a ritualized position. He was not floating much as she was, almost seeming like he was firmly rooted to the ground. Suddenly, his eyes slid open and he reached forward to take Muramasa with his left hand. He grasped the bokken lightly near the middle of the enchanted staff before moving his grip to right up next to the tsuba. He put the bokken into its place before repeating the process with the other hand and Kanesada. This accomplished, he fluidly got to his feet.

Raven watched as he paced to the edges of the roof, familiarizing himself with the area he had. He turned to her. _"Raven-kun, please stand back. I will not have either sword act intentionally lethally, but to be hit by one would be quite painful, and possibly deadly if they should hit wrong." _

Raven floated backwards, clearing space for whatever the ronin wished to do. _"Will this do?"_

_"Yes, thank you very much." _He drewMuramasa left-handed before making Kanesada appear in his right in a flash of light. The katana's blade shone like a beacon, even with so little light. Suddenly the blades blurred into action, the polished maple and steel creating intricate patterns around the teenager as he seemed to almost dance across the rooftop in a swirl of movement. He suddenly stopped and started moving in short, clipped, very deliberate movements, very much unlike the fluid dance of before. Then he started disappearing and reappearing in poses of completed strikes.

His movements alternated between the three, becoming faster and slower as he dictated. Jumps, spins, lunges, dashes, slashes, thrusts, rolls, all combined in an ever-changing show. As the kata progressed, the three patterns melded together until they became indistinguishable. Moon- and starlight flashed and shattered as blades spun and wheeled, steps thumped against the concrete one moment, becoming soft pads the next, and Kenkaku's heavy breathing filled the air as he jumped into the air, yelling: _"Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu, Ryouyoku no Fenikkusu!" _He swept the blades out from his sides as fast as he could, leaving twin arcs of light behind them, one brighter that the other, looking much like glowing wings. The ronin hung in the air for five…ten seconds before starting to fall. He spun in mid-air as he came down to earth, trailing a double-helix of light with his blades. Amazingly, he landed lightly, then sheathed his blades.

_"That was amazing," _said Raven, awed by the display.

_"That was the true face of Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu, Raven-kun."_

She shivered. _"Perhaps we should go inside."_

_"I suppose. Up for a round or two in Kengo?"_

_"I think so, yes." _The two Japanese-speaking teens walked to the elevator to the main room. Woe be to the force that would try to keep them from their late-night gaming session.

---

And so would the next few days pass, a pleasant respite of what passed for normalcy in the T-tower. With no noteworthy crimes, the teens would relax. But trouble would soon drift to them on the currents of life.

---

Japanese Language Glossary:

Gashi: "Greetings."

-san: been over this honorific a lot already.

-kun: Honorific, can indicate endearment, close friendship, romantic involvement, superior to inferior. We're mostly looking at #2 here.

Kata: Roughly translated "Routine." Set of moves designed to help a person train in a martial art.

Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu, Ryouyoku no Fenikkusu: "Fighting Spirit of the Phoenix School, Two Wings of the Phoenix."

---

A/N: Sorry that it's been a while. Band camp and mild writer's block are a bitch when it comes to fanfiction productivity. Anyway, here it is, a 'filler' chapter before the next 'plot' chapter. Not to say that the events here aren't important, just that it's more of an interlude.


	8. Chaperones: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

"He got the cold pizza again," said Robin as he looked in the fridge. "What's this?" The Boy Wonder pulled a typed note out of the fridge.

Hi, it's Kenkaku. I went out shopping for a few things. (Yes, I can type or write in English if I think letter-by-letter instead of in words.) Don't bother sending Raven after me. Where I'm headed, I won't need a translator, so long as you actually have one of these shops in the city. I should be back soon. I'm pretty fast.

P.S. Robin, I didn't get the pizza this time. Raven TK grabbed it.

Robin laughed before heading for the Lucky Charms yet again. _Wonder what he's getting?_

---

Kenkaku hummed contentedly as he left the Japanese market with his purchases. He had the duffle slung over his shoulder, contents one very nice knife, one rice cooker, two legendary swords, various ingredients, a special dish set, a bamboo mat, a set of nice chopsticks, and a DVD. He picked a bit of a roast beef out from his teeth. _Nice to see an Izzy's out of Cincinnati. Wonder why they moved all the way out here though._

He walked down the street, striking a slightly odd, but fairly unremarkable figure in the city. He was wearing the blue jacket ensemble, and really wasn't a well known superhero. As such, he really wasn't in danger of being recognized. A happy thing for now. As he brushed by varied city dwellers, a small park came into his view. Shrugging, he headed there, dodging a wino on the way.

He unslung the duffle and sat under a tree, watching the city pass by. Some people were sitting nearby, but none of them looked threatening. Some kids in the sandbox, a man reading the paper, a blonde teen reading tarot cards for someone else, and cliché of clichés, an old lady feeding the birds.

Even with no visible danger, he left the duffle just open enough to be able to easily pull a sword without making it too noticeable. "No motorcycle, stuntman?"

The ronin's hand shot into the duffle as he looked for the speaker. The tarot card reader's erstwhile customer was walking away, and the blonde girl with the deck was looking straight at him. _"No." _The wave man cocked his head to the side. _"Do I know you?"_

Apparently the girl could speak Japanese. _"No, or at least, you shouldn't."_

Kenkaku stood up and reslung his duffel, walking over to her. _"Okay, so am I going to know you?"_

_"Not biblically, I don't think. Someone else in the city though, if you play your cards right, just might though."_

The metahuman quirked an eyebrow. _"I'm headed off to Japan, first chance I get."_

_"That would very likely be the wrong way to play your cards." _She shuffled the deck and started laying out cards.

_"You going to tell me what each one means?" _inquired the ronin as the girl set out each card.

The girl looked up at him. _"Prophecy and legends aren't simply random chance. These cards are an affection."_

_"Metahuman?"_

_"Yes. You may call me Soothsayer. And you are?"_

_"You seem to know about me, you tell me."_

_"I am simply using my gift on a stranger."_

_"Name's Kenkaku. And it's no worse than your name, Soothsayer-san."_

_"I said nothing." _Her eyelids closed partially. _"I really can not tell much about you, Kenkaku-san, but you are in the middle of the fulfillment of a legend. You carry a pair of extremely powerful objects that are coveted by demonic warriors who know more than you do about these objects. You shall either triumph and be united with your soul mate, or…well, it'll be extremely unpleasant. That's about all I see. Take two pills and see me again in a few weeks."_

_"You are a very strange person. You know that, right?"_

_"This from the nut who flew not six inches over my head on a motorcycle."_

_"Point. See ya."_

_"See you. Heed my words Kenkaku-san. They are not empty shells."_

---

Kenkaku walked into the main room to absolutely no fanfare. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing F-Zero X and Raven was reading Battle Royale. Totally engrossed in it, it would seem, by the fact that no veins on her forehead were twitching. Kenkaku walked up behind her and stood there, head over her shoulder, just barely out of her vision. Raven finished the chapter and lowered the book, her vision switching from a highly focused mode to a more normal view. The upshot of this was that she got more peripheral vision. The upshot of that was that she finally noticed Kenkaku.

"YAAH!" Raven jumped, all the muscles in her body tensing in an instinctive reaction. A freak wind blew through the main room. _"How long were you there?"_

The ronin chuckled. _"Eh, about three minutes." _Cyborg and Beast Boy were laughing their asses off. Raven was thankful that their eyes were squeezed closed as she blushed. _"So, how far did you get into Royale?" _For being an ultra-observant swordsman, he could be awfully thick sometimes.

_"Death of Yoshio Akamatsu."_

_"So not to the really gruesome part yet."_ At Raven's skeptical look, the long-haired boy elaborated. _"Death of Kazushi Niidai is real bad. That's pretty much the only one that got to me."_ He seemed to remember something. _"Tonight is movie night, right?"_

_"Right."_

He smiled broadly, pulling a DVD out of the duffle. _"Want to try and get it past Redbreast-san?"_ Battle Royale was clearly marked on the cover. _"Subbed, not dubbed."_

_"Sounds good," _replied Raven with a small smile.

_"Great! I'm going to go make my lunch."_

_"What are you making?"_

The quirky wave man pumped his fist into the air. _"SUSHI!"_

_---_

Raven watched as Kenkaku sliced strips of raw sushi-grade tuna and placed them on small riceballs. It was the final set on the monstrous platter he had made. He finished off the tuna with a few riceballs left to spare.

That was when Beast Boy walked in. "That's a rather large platter of murder there. You do realize I've -been- most of the things on that platter, right?"

_"Can you be them again?" _asked the ronin as he looked down at the spare rice.

"Can you be them again?" translated Raven.

"Of course," said Beast Boy proudly, "I am called Beast Boy for a reason."

_"Maguro," _said Kenkaku without looking up.

"What?"

"Tuna."

"Uh…"

The ronin pointed the knife at him. _"I'm out of maguro. Mind donating some?"_

"What'd he say?" asked Beast Boy confusedly.

Raven smirked as she translated. "I'm out of tuna. Mind donating some?"

Beast Boy freaked as the Japanese-speakers laughed. Kenkaku skewered one of the three extra rice balls on the knife and flipped at Beast Boy, who caught it, before passing one to Raven and munching on the last one himself. _"Don't worry Beast Boy, there's enough vegetarian sushi for you."_

"He was nice, Beast Boy. He made vegetarian sushi for you."

"Oh, fanks," mumbled Beast Boy around his rice.

_"Don't mention it."_

_---_

"This is really good Kenkaku," said Robin as he finished off the unagi. "I'm going to miss you when you head off to Japan."

Kenkaku looked up from the tekka maki he was devouring. _"I'm sure you could learn to make sushi."_

_"Iya. None of the Titans can cook for anything."_

Kenkaku shrugged as he finished the tekka maki and ate his last piece of hamachi, patting his stomach as he pushed away the empty tray. Beast Boy looked over at him, amazed. "You had more than any of us. How'd you finish so fast?"

_"Simple. I'm addicted."_ Raven quirked an eyebrow as she translated this.

_"That was extremely good Kenkaku-kun," _said the short-haired girl.The ronin smiled and bowed his head.

Cyborg burped and pushed his chair back from the table. "Hey, Kaku, you mind coming down to the garage with me? I've got a surprise for you."

_"Shua. Raven-kun, do you mind?" _asked the ronin as he stood up.

Raven finished off her tea and stood up. The three headed over to the elevator.

---

"Okay, my sword-toting buddy, I've got something special for you." Cyborg walked towards a tarp-covered vehicle in the Titan's garage.

_"Uh, okay," _said the confused waveman.

Cyborg whipped the tarp off the vehicle. "Ta-dah!"

_"Whoa! A Ninja ZX-12R! But that's way too much…" _Raven translated this on the fly, pretty much knowing what he would say.

Kenkaku was a little confused when Cyborg leapt into the air. "Boo-yah! It passed the test!"

_"What's up with him?" _asked the swordsman of the sorceress.Raven shrugged.

"Okay Kaku, I'll explain," said Cyborg as he saw the bewildered look on the two other Titans' faces. "I made it to look like a ZX-12R. But you can't buy one of these down at Kawasaki. I call her the Shinobi. She's faster, faster than any bike I know of, has an autopilot, a second mode for water not unlike a jetski. But what I'm really proud of is the combat functionality." He pulled out a remote and pushed a button. A weapon cluster came out of either side of the bike with a three-barreled energy weapon on top and what looked to be a rotary magazine rocket launcher on the bottom.

_"Sugoi."_

"The top weapons are pulse cannons. They're less powerful than the hovertank had, but they fire faster. The bottom weapons, as you've probably guessed, are mini-missile/rocket launchers. Six shots per side. You can choose the payload. There's a limited payload of caltrops in the back as well, and everything is armored, wheels to windscreen."

_"Q never did that good." _Raven raised her eyebrow as she translated that.

"I know, Mr. Kaku. Kaku, Ken Kaku." Cyborg started laughing. "Bring this back in pristine order, would you?" He shook his head. "Anyway, we're not done."

_"Nani!?"_

"Well, I've made it so the whole bike can be operated with just the left hand, so you can use your sword. Little tricky to drive like that. And your new helmet has a HUD with fire zones for your weapons superimposed. The mounts have a little bit of play in them, slaved to the helmet. And she'll never need gas."

_"Wow. How?" _Raven translated this again.

"Cold fusion cell. Just like the T-car and the R-cycle. Wanna take it for a spin?"

_"One question first."_

"How much did it cost?" finished Raven, knowing what the swordsman would ask.

_"Hey!"_

"Nothing really. I had been working on this before, and all I did was finish it up and make it look nice for you." Sure enough, the bike hada black and dark gray paint job with a pair of two-tone silver flashes. "And if you don't take it, I'll feel hurt."

Kenkaku put his hands up in surrender. _"Right then. I accept. Time to see what this baby can do. Helmet, dozou?" _The alarm went off. _"Oooh. Combat testing. Awesome."_

---

"You certainly finished up Kenkaku's bike at the right time, Cyborg," said Robin as he paced in front of the main computer screen. "We seem to have a motorcycle gang armed with more stole military hardware. It's starting to seem like someone is distributing the goods. We'll definitely have to look into that. But as it is now, we've got a bunch of drunken thugs with rifles that could 'blow chunks out of tanks.' That's probably an exaggeration, but not one I want to test. And we've been hearing reports of a 'large armed vehicle that floats over the ground'. My guess is another hovertank."

Kenkaku groaned. _"Just what we need."_

_"Much nicer bike this time around."_

_"True."_

"Doesn't look like an easy fight, and it's going to likely be mostly vehicular. So we're going to have Starfire on aerial duties, Cyborg and Beast Boy in the T-car, Kenkaku on his new bike with Raven coming along to provide shielding and translation, and me on the R-cycle."

Cyborg looked at Robin funny. "The Shinobi already has armor, Robin."

"But the rider doesn't. And before you say it, I have body armor. Beast Boy, unless we can get this fight stopped, you're likely to be stuck as gunner for the photon cannon."

"Aw man…firepower!" Beast Boy chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "I'll do just fine."

Raven turned to Kenkaku. _"How safely are you going to drive?"_

_"For the first five minutes, you'll be fine. The rest of the time, you might want to do the corset impression."_

_"I was afraid of that. Okay, let's go." _

---

_"YOU CALL THIS SAFE!?" _yelled Raven as the Shinobi sped between a pair of buses.

_"Just seeing what she can do! Besides, we've been riding for five minutes and ten seconds…ergh." _Raven had wrapped her legs around his body again. _"Hey, at least we have helmets and communicators this time."_

_"I feel -so- much safer." _

_"Good to hear." _The ronin twisted the throttle -hard-. The speedo jumped to 200 mph. _"Hell yeah!" _He let off on the gas.

"So Raven, does he like it?" asked Cyborg as he came up behind them.

"A little too much."

"So I see. Interesting riding position, Raven," said Robin as the R-cycle pulled alongside.

"Shut up. _Kenkaku-kun, I'm going to kill you."_

_"Learn to ride, Raven-kun. Ergh!" _He winced as she squeezed. _"Dozou. You're going to rupture my spleen soon."_

_"Deal with it."_

"Alright, go to combat formation and ready weapons. T-car in the middle, bikes flanking."

"Right. Beast Boy, get the photon cannon ready."

"On it." The top of the T-car opened and the extremely powerful photon cannon rose from its shielded compartment. The weapon traversed and elevated as Beast Boy tested it.

_"Youkai."_ Kenkaku dropped speed and pulled in to the left of the T-car before arming his weapons. The weapon clusters slid out of the bike right in front of his legs, servomotors making them track his head's movement. _"How much flexibility do the mounts have?"_

"How much play do the guns have, Cyborg?"

"60 degrees up, 20 down, and 30 to either side, but only half of that can be covered by both guns."

_"Tame."_

"Good," translated Raven.

"Alright," said Robin. "We're coming up on the bike gang. Police cars are tailing at a pretty good distance. No sightings of a hovertank, but be on guard. If it does come up, that's your primary target, BB."

"Gotcha."

_"Ready for shielding, Raven-kun?"_

_"Hai."_

Kenkaku flicked his eyes up to the HUD's map, showing the positions of the Titans and the estimated positions of the biker gang. He toggled the pulse cannons for the index finger triggers and the rocket launchers for the thumb buttons. _"Then ask Robin-san what the plan is."_

"We're all ready here. What's the plan?"

"A soon as we get within range, Beast Boy will open fire with the photon cannon. Star will strafe the gang while the bikes move in, followed by the T-car. Beast Boy, we move when you fire." Robin hunched over his bike, ready to speed at the group of leather-clad thugs on choppers.

"Well then, let's jam!"

'TSSSOW!'

A lance of blue energy stabbed at the biker gang, which was rolling down the road, firing their weapons as they went. Starfire swooped in and started hurling starbolts. Some of the bikers turned their pistols skyward in an attempt to bring down the Tamaranian.

'VRRRRROW!'

Both Robin and Kenkaku twisted their throttles, shooting ahead of the T-car at a skin-peeling 230 mph. The R-cycle's small energy weapons trained on the cruisers and choppers ahead of them. "On the count, we fire. Four."

_"San."_

"Two."

_"Ichi."_

"Fire!"

'ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!'

'NEOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!'

The R-cycle spat six discs of energy, but it was nothing compared to the hail of pulse blasts from the Shinobi. The energy fire ripped up the road before Kenkaku belatedly snapped his head up and laid off the trigger, remembering the fact that the gun's targeting was tied into his helmet.

'VRRRRREM!'

Kenkaku sideslipped around the furrows he had cut in the road. _"Whoops."_

"Wow. Cyborg, can you fit the R-cycle with a pair of those?"

"Get in line. I'm mounting some on my baby first."

Kenkaku laid the HUD's crosshairs on one of the bikes. _"Okay, take two. And…" _He squeezed the trigger. _"Action!"_

'NEOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!'

The biker just barely saw the guns start to fire in time, jumping off his bike before the pulse fire ripped it into rather tiny pieces.

"That's going to be one nasty case of road rash," chuckled Robin.

Some of the bikes with a second rider dropped back, the backseaters spinning around and bringing assault rifles to bear on the Shinobi and its riders.

_"That looks decidedly unpleasant. Raven-kun, shield!"_

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

'AKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK!'

'PSHEOW, PSHEOW, PSHEOW!'

An obsidian force field sprang up to interdict the high-caliber slugs and energy blasts. Raven grunted as the blasts hit her shield, suffusing it crimson and sending flashes of white through it. _"Taking evasive action would be a very good thing, Kenkaku-kun."_

_"On it!" _The ronin played the bike like a virtuoso, rapidly changing speed and direction in a random pattern. The mil-spec weapons fire went wide. _"My turn."_

'NEOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!'

The scything energy fire cut the bikes out from under four bikers and ran another two off the road. _"These guys are pushovers."_

_"Plenty of them though."_

_"Granted."_ Kenkaku sighted in on a large cluster of the bikers and selected a concussion rocket. His thumb mashed the right thumb button.

'PSSSSHOW!'

'BWOOOOOOOM!'

Bikers and bikes went flying as the warhead detonated. _"Kuso! That's some blast! Raven-kun, ask Cyborg-san if there's anything safer to use on the bikers."_

"Cyborg, is there anything a little less destructive in the launchers?"

"That was a concussion blast, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's actually mostly non-lethal, but in this situation, that's unlikely to be the outcome. There really isn't a really good way to ensure the survival of our targets at the moment."

"Don't bother worrying about them, Kenkaku," commanded Robin. "Just stop them."

_"Right."_ He triggered the pulse cannons again, weaving in and out of return fire as the Titans' energy weapons decimated the bikers.

---

"Well, that was easy," commented Robin as the final bike was destroyed.

"Dude, what happened to the hovertank?" asked Beast Boy.

"No sign of one on scanners," replied a puzzled Cyborg.

_"Are you driving safely now?" _asked Raven as she settled back into a normal riding position.

_"Hopefully,"_ replied Kenkaku. _"Hey, where's Starfire-san?"_

_"Nani? _Hey, has anyone seen Starfire?"

"No. Starfire? Are you out there?"

"Be…careful." The Tamaranian sounded pained. "It…is…not a…a hov…ertank."

"STAR!? Where are you!? Are you alright!?" yelled Robin.

"I…will be…f…fine."

_"SHIMATTA!" _The ronin gunned the bike's engine, streaking ahead. _"INCOMING!"_

_"Kenkaku-kun!? _Titans! Move it! Gunship, gunship, gunship!"

Missiles streaked out from a fold in the hills, followed by a VTOL gunship. The highly advanced aircraft had roughly three times the power of the hovertank.

'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!'

"Well our day just got ten times worse," commented Beast Boy as he fired the photon cannon.

'TSSSOW!'

It was also much harder to hit. The pilot simply kicked in some lateral thrust, the cannon blast cleanly missing him.

'ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!'

Robin fired his energy disc launchers, but it was obvious that the R-cycle was woefully undergunned to take on the gunship. The enemy pilot didn't even bother to dodge the blasts, merely picking up a little carbon scoring.

'NEOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!'

Twin streams of blue pulse bolts shot up from the Shinobi towards the gunship, scoring hits, but very little damage. This did not deter the ronin's predatory grin as he held the guns on target, his HUD giving him some very good news. LOCK ON

'PSHOW! PSHOW! PSHOW! PSHOW!'

Four small but powerful surface to air missiles shot up at the tank-buster. A strong play.

'BOOM!'

One of the missiles drew smoke from one of the craft's main engines. The other three missed or were suckered off by counter measures. But as strong of a play as it was, it was also desperate. The missiles he had fired were his full complement of SAMs. He had nothing but two plasma rockets and two kinetic kill hypervelocity rockets left. Very tricky to hit a moving aircraft with.

'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

The Titans scattered as 30-mm cannon fire ripped apart the highway. The gunship mounted four of those monsters, each capable of smashing a tank apart like a soft-boiled egg. Each one was firing.

'TSSSOW!'

Beast Boy's shot went wide as Cyborg jerked the car to the right to avoid a rocket.

'KRA-BOOM!'

Kenkaku jumped the crater and fired back with a plasma rocket. Raven had wisely moved back to her unconventional riding position.

'PSSSHOW!'

A valiant attempt, but badly aimed. The rocket shot under the gunship, detonating in a nova-bright explosion against a hill.

'PSSSHOW!'

'RRRRRRRRRR!'

The cannon fire ripped apart the second plasma rocket in mid-air, showering the white-hot plasma on the road. The Titans were forced to dodge.

'BWEAOM!'

A green blast of light smashed into the gunship, staggering the pilot. Beast Boy and Kenkaku both took the chance.

'TSSSOW!'

The photon cannon blast smashed into the already damaged engine, cutting the gunship's maneuverability drastically.

'PSSHOW!'

The Shinobi's final two rockets lanced up at the former military craft, creating sonic booms. Little more than depleted uranium darts with a -very- powerful, quick burn rocket motor attached, they each exceeded mach 8, hitting the gunship with so much force that they were converted to white-hot liquid metal and that the gunship blew apart much like a orange hit with a sledgehammer.

'BUH-BOOM!'

The Titan vehicles all pulled to screeching, sliding halts. The metahumans dismounted and looked into the flaming wreckage _"Kuso. That's a bad way to die."_

"Haven't quite pulled it all together yet, huh, Titans?" asked a gruff male voice. The Titans spun around to see the current Green Lantern of Earth standing there with Hawkgirl, she with Starfire in her arms.

Members of the Justice League.

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

Sushi: If you don't know what this is, I'm not sure why you're reading this.

Maguro: "Tuna."

Iya: "No." (strong)

Shua: "Sure."

Sugoi: "Cool."

Nani: "What?"

Dozou: "Please."

Youkai: "Roger."

Tame: "Good."

Hai: "Yes."

San: "Three."

Ichi: "One."

Kuso: "Shit."

Shimatta: "Damn it."

---

A/N: And now for the start of a new mini-arc. Keep on reading to see where it goes. Should be good.


	9. Chaperones: Part 2

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

---

Waves of Fate

---

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

---

"Green Lantern, Hawkgirl?" asked Robin. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, it would seem," said the winged hero.

"We had scheduled a check-up visit months ago," said Green Lantern, crossing his arms. "Had you forgotten?"

The Boy Wonder scratched the back of his head. "Got lost in the clutter. But it is good to see the two of you again."

"Likewise," replied the mace-wielding alien, nodding to each of them in turn. "Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, …I don't believe we've met."

_"My name is Kenkaku, Hawkgirl-san. It is a great honor to meet you and your comrade, Green Lantern." _Raven quickly translated this.

The green-eyed ex-marine looked on interest. "You do not speak English?"

_"Kitsu."_

"Correct," translated Raven.

"Kenkaku is the newest honorary Titan," explained Robin. "Can we talk about this back at the tower with Starfire in the medbay?"

The JLA members nodded and the far from motley group headed off for the tower.

---

Robin watched over Starfire as she lay in the medbay, so it fell to Cyborg to explain to the JLA members Kenkaku's situation.

"So after he brought in Raven, we decided to buy him what he had lost saving her. This led to a fight in the mall against a guy named Control Freak, and another guy with a pair of Bowie knives, named Brute. Kenkaku headed off for Japan, but some guy with a claymore named Highlander sunk the ship he was on with a warning to stay in Jump City for the duration of whatever the people are planning. We decided to take Kaku on as a honorary Titan. And that led us to today's events."

"I see," responded Green Lantern. "And your superpowers?"

_"High G-tolerance, an accelerated mode, ki control and spotty kiaijutsu, and of course, Kanesada and Muramasa."_

"A high G-tolerance, a decent accelerated mode, ki control and the ability to project it on the environment and others, albeit somewhat unpredictably, and a pair of legendary swords," translated Raven.

"What were you doing before you came here?" asked Hawkgirl.

_"I'm a ronin. I drift where the current of life takes me. Japan seemed like a good destination."_

"He's a wandering superhero, and thought Japan seemed like a good place to settle."

"Registered?"

_"Hai." _Raven didn't bother to translate.

"Well, it is good to meet you, Kenkaku-san," said Green Lantern. "You have no idea why these people are after you?"

_"They seem to want Kanesada and Muramasa. Why, I don't know."_ He rubbed the tsuba with his thumb. _"It's plenty powerful, but according to the bylaws of the enchantments, I'm the only one who can use it safely. And Muramasa is more like a bonus, even if it is very powerful." _Raven struggled to keep up.

_"A little slower, Kenkaku-kun?"_

_"Gomen."_ He shrugged. _"I met a metahuman today who seemed to be connected to legends and prophecies. She mentioned something about the bushi being demonic, but these guys have human ki. They aren't oni." _He left out the part about the 'soul mate'.

Raven's eyes widened as she translated. _Demonic? Perhaps a chat with Father is in order. Even if I will have to deal with Competitive Spirit. _

"Interesting. Well, let's get to the little bit of business we have here."

"And that is?" asked Cyborg.

"The rash of stolen military weapons," said the emerald-eyed hero.

"Yeah, what's up with that, dude?"

"And why are you investigating a problem in our jurisdiction?" asked Raven. "The political fallout could be deadly."

"The problem is hardly local. All over the world, these thefts are occurring. But the worst area is around Jump City. It isn't obvious, but it is there. Also, quite a bit of the surplus is being shipped to your little neck of the woods."

"The problem is," picked up Hawkgirl, "We have no information on this other than it is happening. Military-grade weapons are finding their ways into all kinds of peoples' hands. No motive, pattern, or mastermind."

_"What about the apparent center on Jump City? That looks like a pattern to me."_

"He's right. The center on Jump City is a pattern," said Raven.

"Not a very useful one," said Green Lantern. "We're just here for a friendly visit, but we thought we should tell you about this. Though other superheroes will clean up the scattered incidents, the real problem will be yours. Do you kids feel up for it?"

Cyborg nodded. "Sure thing. If it gets way out of hand, we'll call for help, but I think this is well within our capabilities." The other Titans nodded.

"We got this down," affirmed Beast Boy.

"Sure, woo."

"Enthusiastic, aren't we? Don't bother translating that."

_"Like I would in the first place."_

The other superpowered beings shrugged, not pressing the two Japanese-speakers for a translation. Hawkgirl grabbed her mace. "Okay, I've waited long enough. We're sparring, samurai boy."

Kenkaku's face blanched. _"This is going to be kurushii."_

_"Not confident?"_

_"She's JLA."_

_"True. Well, I'm putting my colors on you."_

_"Ah! With the favor of the Lady Raven upon my arm, I shall surely triumph!" _He paused._ "If you translate that, your head leaves its body."_

_"I dislike the teasing just as much as you do."_

"Come on, kid. We'll use the roof."

_"Ii ka."_

_---_

Hawkgirl checked the electric function on her mace as Kenkaku handed Raven a sheathed Kanesada. _"Do not draw Kanesada for anything. Nothing! You hear me?"_

_"Hai."_

_"Good. I'd rather not see you dead, Raven-kun." _He smiled slightly.

Raven blushed as Kenkaku turned away, taking Muramasa in hand. _"Good luck."_

_"I'm going to need it." _The ronin fell into chudan-no-kamae. _"My name is Kenkaku, and I am trained in Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu." _

Hawkgirl was not nearly so formal. "**RAUGH!**" Her mace flew at the teen in a powerful overhand blow.

'BOOM!'

The ronin jumped back, the mace creating a small crater where it hit.

_What have I gotten myself into? _Kenkaku jumped onto the haft of the mace, only to have Hawkgirl pull it back up, him still on it, throwing him across the roof. He flipped in midair, landing on two feet and a hand.

'tp'

_Okay, she's definitely stronger than me, but Muramasa might let me hit on something approaching her level. In a weapon lock though, she'd be the winner for sure. She can fly. I've got better speed, and an easier weapon to handle. Nix kiaijutsu. That's far too risky for a sparring match. In this case, I think I'd better play to technique and speed. But only using accelerated mode if things get desperate._

The ronin nodded to himself and assumed a one-handed grip, dashing at the alien warrior. He dodged a swing of the mace and stabbed one-handed into his opponent's gut. _"Tsaiah!'_

'Whack!'

Hawkgirl folded over on Muramasa and went flying backwards. She looked at him, giving him a short nod. "Not bad."

_"Arigatou."_

"Now, let's get started." Hawkgirl flapped her wings, propelling her across the roof at Kenkaku. The teen rolled out of the way of the JLA member, spinning around in a slash that forced the other warrior to back off.

Hawkgirl drove in again, swinging the mace in a two-handed flat arc.

'CLACK!'

The teen parried with Muramasa, driving the heavy mace to the side and following up with a lightning-quick slash to his winged opponent's forearms.

'THOOM!'

Hawkgirl was knocked to the ground by the enchanted bokken. Down, but not out. She twisted on the ground, swinging her mace into Kenkaku's exposed flank.

"Ugah!" The ronin went flying. Like most metahumans, especially drifters, he was tougher than average, but he was not made for taking hits. He was almost the living embodiment of the theory that the best defense is a strong offense.

'Thump!'

He hit the roof and skidded, holding his side in pain. He stood up shakily, using Muramasa as a kind of cane. _"Chikushou," _he groaned. He didn't remember ever getting hit that hard. But he was still able to fight. Muramasa came up to a ready position, his stance shielding his damaged side.

Kenkaku flowed out of the way of another overhand blow and grabbed Hawkgirl's helmet. Getting a good grip, he twisted, getting her off her feet. Before she could bring her wings into play, he threw her to the ground and slashed down at her, connecting with her hip as she tried to roll away.

"Agh!" Muramasa was not a pleasant thing to be hit with. The impact sent the more experienced hero tumbling.

'Wheoooom.'

Kenkaku dashed at the female hero at his rather respectable top speed, getting to her before she had a chance to fully recover. Bokken smashed against mace as Kenkaku tried to overwhelm Hawkgirl's defenses.

Good luck. Hawkgirl had sparred against Flash, who was a -lot- faster. Granted, he didn't hit nearly as hard. She took the offensive and struck overhand. Kenkaku slashed up, neutralizing the swing, then sank to his knees as he tried to keep the mace away from him. He held on to the handle with his right while bracing the blade with his left. He pushed up with his left as hard as he could, flinging the mace off to the right.

The ronin smirked and drew Muramasa across the woman's midsection in a powerful slash. She went flying to his left, using the momentum of his hit to hit him with her mace.

The heavy metal weapon smacked into his head, knocking him out cold. Raven dashed over to him, checking on him. "Perhaps you were a little harsh on him," said Green Lantern, his arms folded over his chest.

"Better with me than with a supervillan."

'pfuh.'

A small glob of blood splattered on the ground

_"Not done yet,"_ said Kenkaku as he stood up, a little blood running down his lip. He wiped it off and shifted Muramasa to his left hand, taking Kanesada from Raven. The brother swords shone as he lifted them to the ready position. _"I underestimated you."_

Hawkgirl looked at the ronin incredulously. "You sure you want to do this?"

**_"KIAI!"_ **was the ronin's only response. The swordsman immediately stood up straighter, showing no pain.

Hawkgirl took up her mace. "Fine. Let's…" The ronin had disappeared.

'THOOM!'

Hawkgirl went flying backwards as both blades struck her full on. Kenkaku had seemed to blink out of existence, only to reappear as he struck. _"Your technique is lacking, though your spirit and self are strong."_

The JLA member roared and swung at him. Muramasa intercepted the mace, taking control of it as Kenkaku spun around and pointed Kanesada at Hawkgirl's throat.

The Titan's jaws dropped. The JLA members' eyes went extremely wide. Kenkaku hadn't even gone accelerated outside of the one -blink- attack. _"Raven-kun, please tell Hawkgirl-san that her attacks were a little too predictable, and that's how I won. I'd also suggest a faster weapon."_

Raven translated this. Hawkgirl nodded. "I see. You are quite skilled and have my respect."

_"Domo arigatou."_ He put Muramasa in its belt loop and took Kanesada's saya from Raven, sheathing the enchanted sword and putting the saya in its fitting. Suddenly he grabbed his side, gritting his teeth. Raven knew exactly what had happened. He had gotten rid of the kiaijutsu technique he had been using. He bowed, then limped off for the elevator.

The other superheroes followed his example, taking different amounts of time. But none of them were on the roof when a sickle came flying up and dug into the concrete.

---

Raven walked her mindscape as she normally did, heading for the one place she feared the most. Even caged, Trigon was a powerful force. As she came to the top of the rise that would let her gaze down at the captured demon lord, she gasped.

---

Japanese Flavor Text:

-san: Honorific. If you've been reading the story, you should know what it means.

Kitsu: "Correct."

Ki: "Spirit." Can mean a wide variety of things.

Kiaijutsu: "Art of the kiai." A form of martial arts in which one focuses their ki as a force on the environment or people in it.

Ronin: "Wave man." Masterless samurai.

Hai: "Yes."

Gomen: "Pardon/I'm sorry."

Bushi: "Warrior."

Oni: "Demon."

Kurushii: "Painful."

Ii ka: "Fine then."

Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu: "Fighting Spirit of the Phoenix School."

Tsaiah: War cry.

Arigatou: "Thank you."

Chikushou: "Beast(s)/Damn."

Kiai: War cry, connected with kiaijutsu.

-kun: Honorific. You should know what this means from earlier chapters.

Domo arigatou: "Thank you." (Stronger than arigatou.)

---

A/N: Wondering what Raven is seeing? Well, you'll find out next time. Please do review. I like to know what people think of my story, good or bad. Till next time, ja na.


	10. Chaperones: Part 3

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English 

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Raven dashed down the hill. The mental cage she had constructed for Trigon was little more than twisted wreckage. Competitive Spirit was lying, beaten like a Technicolor doily, across the cold faux-Azarath mindscape. And a -red- Raven was tending to her. 

Her immediate thought was of Trigon, but the demon lord tending to one of her aspects? Especially Competitive Spirit. If any of her aspects would stand against Trigon, so would CS. Besides, Trigon radiated an aura of deep hatred. This red-robed aspect, while not calm and serene, had an aspect that was all together…nice.

_"I had a feeling I would be running in to you soon," _said Raven in Japanese.

_"You admitted to my presence rather quickly. I would have expected you to deny me for years." _The red-robed aspect looked up at her with a slight smile.

_"I'm of a mind to keep my emotions under control, not a fool," _said Raven, slightly annoyed.

_"Now that's denial. Need I draw your attention to any number of other incidents with the other aspects? Never me before, shame that."_

_"I've learned," _said Raven, frowning, _"Shouldn't you be blind?"_

_"You aren't one for clichés. Well, one or two, but…" _

_"Shut up," _commanded Raven, irked._ "What happened here?"_

_"Trigon decided to leave your mind, obviously. And violently, it would seem."_

_"That, I can see. Why? I know you've been lurking around ever since I met Kenkaku-kun. You should know something, Love, especially since you are like CS in nature."_

_"Sorry, I've been trying to find you. Get you to accept that I exist. CS did mention that Trigon said something about brother blades."_

_"Kanesada and Muramasa."_

_"Your boyfriend gets more and more interesting."_

_"He is not my boyfriend."_

_"Oh, good, I get to argue with you over something."_

_"Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't like it, but he isn't. And it could never be."_

_"This is the guy who you spend almost all your time with."_

_"I'm the only one who can speak with him!"_

For both of us, I think_. Remember those words?"_

_"Wishful thinking."_

_"The Raven-CHAN incident."_

_"Well, it worked, didn't it? Look, I like…"_

_"Ahem."_

_"…love him. But nothing can come of it, and it looks strictly one-sided."_

_"You're forgetting honorifics."_

_"He calls me Raven-kun. So what? I started that."_

_"Yes, but the rest of the Titans are his friends, and he uses -san with them. Come to think of it, so do you."_

_"True…" _she shook her head. _We're losing sight of the problem. Trigon is loose."_

_"It's related but…Trigon has left your mind. Rage is still here, but Trigon is no longer trying to use you to take over Earth."_

_"He wouldn't just give up like that. He must be trying something else."_

_"Brother blades, remember?"_

_"Right.__ Take care of CS." _Raven dashed off for the door out of her mind.

* * *

Kenkaku tightened a bandage with his teeth, then snipped off the excess with a kozuka before tying a low-profile knot. He grimaced as he probed his head, finding a very tender spot just above his ear. _Reminder to self.__ Do not ever spar with a Justice League member again. _He looked at his fingers, sighing at the little flakes of dried blood on them. He walked across the medbay, being careful not to disturb the sleeping Robin and Starfire. Robin had passed out about an hour back, and was draped across Starfire's stomach. 

The ronin gave a slight smile to the scene as he turned to the sink, running a little water onto a clean cloth, moistening it. He hissed as he started to clean the wound with it.

_At least it isn't too big, _thought the wave man as he reached for a roll of clean bandages and a wad of soft padding. He checked his fingers for blood. The wound wasn't bleeding. He positioned the padding on the wound and made to wrap the bandages around his head to hold it in place.

He promptly dropped both the bandages and the padding when Raven shadow-warped into the room, right beside him. _"Hello Raven-kun."_ He bent down and picked up the bandages, starting to reapply them.

_"What are you doing?"_ asked the sorceress.

_"Patching myself up," _replied the swordsman.

_"No, that's not what I meant."_ Raven put her hand on his arm and concentrated, gritting her teeth. _"I have a limited healing power." _Her breath hissed out. _"You got hurt a lot worse than you let on."_

_"Drifting and martial arts teach you to not notice it until it's important. That's really good. So why didn't you use it on Starfire-san?"_

_"Her damage was too extensive. I wasn't feeling up to it."_

_"Huh?"_

_"I have to deal with some pain to heal a wound. About half of the pain of the original wound." _

Kenkaku instinctively grabbed Raven's hand to break the connection, but paused just as he grabbed her hand. _"Eh…sorry."_He shook his head. _"You should have just left me with the bandages."_

_"No. I don't think so. These nuts with blades keep on assaulting you. You need to be in top form." _Raven cursed her traitor fingers as they curled around the long-haired swordsman's.

_"You didn't need to go through pain for my sake. I would have been just fine."_

_Something is going to break soon, _thought Raven, barely holding onto her powers.

Something did. A chain shot out of the darkness, a weight attached to the end. It hit Raven's wrist full on.

'Ccckhak!'

"AHHHH!" screamed Raven as the pain from her broken wrist registered.

_"RAVEN!" _yelled Kenkaku, forgetting the honorific in his momentary panic.

'SHING! CH-THANGK!'

Kenkaku drew Kanesada and stabbed it through one of the chain's links, into the floor, pinning the chain. Muramasa appeared in his other hand. _"Come out, you son of a bitch!"_

_"Just a bitch, wave man," _said the attacker as she stepped from the shadows, holding onto a short-handled sickle, the chain attached to the base. _"You may call me Kunoichi. I fight with a kusari-gama. It is just as immutable as your swords, so don't try to cut through the chain."_

_"Another one of the little organization after Kanesada?"_

_"Yes. Your girlfriend had the right idea. Keep healthy. You are the only one that can truly fight us."_

**"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"** Raven's eyes glowed pure white as she shot Kenkaku's kozuka across the room.

'TSSICK!'

The sickle-wielder gritted her teeth as she pulled the kozuka from her bicep. _"That hurt, bitch. Here, you can have it back! **HYOH!**"_ She threw the knife back, catching Raven in the thigh. _"Just wait. I'll deal with you once I'm done with your boyfriend."_

_Damn,_ thought Kenkaku, glancing at the sleeping Robin and Starfire. _Help would be an extremely good thing._

Kunoichi caught his glance. _"Don't bother. He's out with a sleeping drug, and she's in a stasis field until the nanobots are ready, remember? Security systems are out in this room. It's just us."_

_"In that case…" _

'Wheooom!'

Kenkaku went accelerated and pulled Kanesada out of the floor, yanking on the chain. The chain pulled on the sickle attached in turn. Kunoichi did not release the handle, and was pulled across the room a ways, off balance.Kenkaku slashed downwards with Muramasa, hoping for a quick end to the fight.

Unfortunately, Kunoichi was very fast. In fact… _"Very nice try, ronin, but when you accelerate, so do I. A gift from the one who wants Kanesada."_

_"And if I decelerate?"_

_"So do I. Keeps us even for the prophecy."_

'Whoooet!'

Kenkaku released the chain from Kanesada, and hopped back, Muramasa held forward with Kanesada held back. Kunoichi started to spin the chain, getting ready for a throw.

_With so much clutter in here, and a ceiling, the chain is limited. I can't use aerial attacks, but neither can she. If she can trap my swords, it's over. I've got to neutralize her chain!_

Kunoichi threw her chain, the weight striking like some venomous serpent. But it struck only air as Kenkaku dove to the side, interposing a sick bed between him and the ninja.

Kunoichi swung the chain in a wide arc above her head, the chain coming in at about throat level for Kenkaku. He instinctively raised Muramasa to block.

The chain wrapped around the bokken, taking control of it. Kunoichi tugged hard, pulling Kenkaku forward, trying to slam him into the sick bed.

No such luck. Kenakaku hopped up onto the bed and pushed off, adding to his momentum. He shot at her like a javelin, Kanesada stretched out in front of him.

She jumped, and Kanesada struck her tip first in the calf, not cutting, but imparting a great deal of force. The hit spun her in mid-air, letting her bring the sickle down into Kenkaku's back.

_"AHHH!"_Blood spurted from the swordsman's back, and a number of his hairs fell to the ground. He landed sprawled on the ground, sickle still embedded in his back.

_"Hah! That was far too easy, ronin!"_

_"Look again." _Kenkaku got to his feet, sickle still in his back, and chain wrapped around Muramasa. _"Never give up your weapon, ninja." _Kunoichi looked down at her empty hands. _"Surrender."_

_"Never!"_ Kunoichi dove towards Raven, grabbing a scalpel, to fast for the sorceress to put up a shield.

But not too fast for Kenkaku.

_"**KIAI!**"_ Kenkaku dashed across the room as the kiaijutsu force blast staggered the female ninja, bringing Kanesada down in a vicious slash.

'FSSSHGLCH!'

Blood sprayed all over the room from Kunoichi's barely in one piece torso. Kenkaku was drenched in the liquid, looking at Kanesada in disbelief. Or rather, the blood that ran down its blade.

Raven got to her feet shakily, speckled with gore, robes streaked with ichor. _"Ken…Kenkaku-kun?" _She knew death, but it had been years upon years since she had seen a body split open in violent death, lifeblood spraying out in a crimson fan.

_"No…no.__ I don't kill indiscriminately. I'm a hero, not a murderer. I don't kill! I didn't wish her dead!"_ He slashed Kanesada violently, the enchanted blade shedding the blood as easily as a duck's wing sheds water. Running on autopilot, the ronin sheathed the katana and put his bokken on his belt and started to walk out of the room.

_"Kenkaku-kun, wait!" _Raven held her arm up to grab his shoulder

_"No. I must leave."_

_"Where are you going?"_

_"Where I belong."_

_"What?"_

_"I just killed someone when I could have knocked them out. I'm going where a murderer should be."_ The door shut behind the blood-drenched swordsman, sickle still in his back.

* * *

Raven frantically shadow-warped through the tower, trying to find someone still awake. She found Green Lantern sitting in front of one of the Titans' computers. "Green Lantern!" 

The ex-marine spun around in his seat, ring glowing. "Don't surprise me like that. What's wrong?"

"We had an intruder in the sickbay and Kenkaku is gone."

"An intruder in the tower? You have very good defenses here. How'd they get through?"

"They were a ninja."

"I've heard stranger. I'll accept that. So, did they kidnap Kenkaku?"

"No…they're dead."

"Kenkaku?" asked GL in disbelief

"He didn't seem to mean to do it…" said Raven, quietly.

"And he's where now?"

"Walking off somewhere. And he has a sickle embedded in his back! I think he's headed to the police station to turn himself in."

"He didn't break a law considering that he's registered. But I can understand him being guilt-ridden. Okay, let's find him." GL stood up. "He couldn't have gone far with a sickle in his back."

"He just may surprise you."

"He already has."

* * *

Kenkaku stumbled along a stone passageway, delirious from loss of blood, and tired from the previous swordfight. He had absolutely no idea where he was. About all he knew was that he was headed downwards. As he stumbled, he pulled out Muramasa and used the bokken as a cane.

_Murderers belong in the ground. Dead in the ground. Wonder what this was used for? Like it matters. I'll be dead soon._

_What for? You did nothing wrong._

_Look, I don't need a hitokiri aspect. I do just fine on my own and I'm going to be dead soon. And I killed someone._

_Hardly your fault._

_I know how Kanesada works. I had to want her dead for it to cut. Murderous intent when I could've knocked her out? That's wrong in my book._

_Mine too, but some things are out of your control. You could not stop yourself from wanting Kunoichi to die in that situation. Just by virtue of your nature and Kanesada's, Kunoichi could not live._

_What the hell do you want with me? Fuck off._

_You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so why don't you talk to the nice blonde who followed us down here for some reason._

Kenkaku spun around to see the blonde metahuman he met in the park.

_"Soothsayer-dono?"_

_"You do realize you have a sickle in your back, right?"_

_"I had actually forgotten about it. Kiaijutsu."_

_"Right.__ Well, as that sickle is in your back, I see I'm a little late to give you another fragment of the prophecy. Maybe I can keep you from committing suicide like I gather you want to, at least."_

_"I'm not committing suicide, I'm letting myself die."_

_"I'm not here to argue the finer points with you. Kenkaku-san, are you familiar with the term soul mate?"_

_"A person that if you meet, you will fall in love with, and no other love will satisfy like them?"_

_"Yes. And there is always a chance for soul mates to get together in any prophecy that involves them."_

_"Yay.__ Get on with it, will you?"_

_"The prophecy tells me quite a bit about who your soul mate is. They're a half-demon."_

_"So? I've been friends with a couple of full demons. In fact, I think there's a little demon somewhere in my bloodline. Heck, I think Raven-dono is half-demon."_

_"Uh, by any chance, were you defending Raven-san when you killed the person who put the sickle in your back?"_

_"Yes…how did you know?"_

_"Prophecy.__ It says that a ninja will try to kill your soul mate, and that like all others that Kanesada tastes, that threaten your half-demon soul mate, the ninja will die."_

_"Your argument for my seeking medical attention is that Raven is my soul mate? She's a nice person, but my soul mate? Interesting argument, but rather unlikely. Besides, it's too late for me to head back. I'd never make it in time. Thanks for trying, but I'll just die under the statue of this girl here. Hey, this statue has a k…"_

Kenkaku slipped into darkness.

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

I'm not going to define the honorifics outside of -dono, as you should know them by now, but a lack of an honorific is very significant. It implies very deep friendship and more often than not, when used between members of the opposite sex, romantic involvement. It can also be rather insulting if used by a person that does not have such a relationship with the subject.

-dono: Derived from the word 'tono' (lord), this is extremely respectful, even more so than –sama. It is very old Japanese, and is not often used unless a person thinks that they are scum.

kunoichi: Female ninja.

kusari-gama: Sickle and chain. The chain is used to neutralize the opponent, then the sickle finishes the job.

kozuka: Small utility knife, forged of sword steel.

hitokiri: Literally, 'manslayer'. Common usage is 'assassin'


	11. Alone Time: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English 

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

_"HOUGH!" _Kenkaku sat bolt upright in bed, clutching at his chest. He breathed heavily, bent over. After a few minutes of calming down, he lifted his head to look around the room. Titans' Tower sickbay. Cyborg was looking down at him. 

"Oh, good! The nanobots worked." Cyborg handed him a laptop. "Take your time man."

What happened?

"You nearly died, but Rae and Green Lantern saved you. Some metahuman named Soothsayer who claims to know you and speaks Japanese is here too. Want me to go get her?"

Don't bother. And for that matter, I killed Kunoichi. Why'd they save me?

"You were protecting Rae."

I should've _been able to_ Dammit. Been able to stun Kunoichi.

"Soothsayer says that's not your fault. Look, man, everyone makes mistakes."

She wouldn't have said –why- it wasn't my fault, would've she?

"Outside of it being a byproduct of that prophecy you're under, no."

Good. I suppose I should thank Raven. Help me u

"That might be a little problem, man."

_"NANDA!?"_

"Rae is in bad shape."

Her healing power, right?

"Uh huh. Nanobots do nothing."

_"Konpai no ki.__ Raven-kun no baka!"_

"What did you say?"

Take me to her. I might be able to help.

* * *

Cyborg walked into the main room to the expectant looks of the other functional Titans, Soothsayer, and the visiting JLA members. 

"Well?" asked Robin.

"Kaku should be just fine. Raven is still out but Kaku thinks he can get her up. Last time I saw him, I think he was meditating."

Beast Boy laughed. "Gathering up courage to kiss her?"

"Heck of a way to go," mused Cyborg.

* * *

Kenkaku's eyes flicked open and he drew himself to his feet, taking slow, even breaths. He stared down at Raven's apparently comatose body. He was barely able to control his worry. This was the first time he had ever done this. He had been told about it, sure, and had seen it happen, but this was a little different. 

He took a deep, calming breath. _Stop worrying. If Soothsayer-san is correct, and she is my soul mate, this should be easy. So just take a couple more deep breaths and get on with it._

Kenkaku bent down and hoped this wouldn't kill him.

* * *

Robin smirked. "There's definitely chemistry at work there, but I don't think that's what he's going to do." 

"Chemistry, Robin?" asked Starfire with a puzzled look.

"Attra…"

**_"KIAI!"_**

"…ction," finished Robin. "Well, that answers what he was going to do."

"I bet they just did that to throw us off," joked Beast Boy, not really believing his joke.

* * *

Kenkaku and Raven blinked in synchronization, staring into each other's eyes, disbelieving. Blushing too. Neither had expected something like this to happen. But Raven had jolted up a bit when Kenkaku's ki had brought her back to the land of the living from far too close to her. 

Cause, effect. Their lips had met, and neither was moving.

Blink, blink. Air finally separated their lips, as they looked away from each other, blushing heavily, and laughing small, self-conscious laughs.

Kenkaku was too distracted to note it, but a small corner of his mind filed away an interesting little fact: _Even_ _taking into consideration being possible soul mates, that was far too effective, and I lost far too little ki._

_"Uh, the other will probably want to see us…" _mentioned Kenkaku, grasping at straws.

_"Yes, we should go," _agreed Raven, dazedly.

Both of the Japanese-speaking metahumans stood there for a few more seconds before jolting a little bit and walking out the door, their hands brushing and withdrawing.

* * *

Soothsayer laughed as Beast Boy and Cyborg bantered. Robin clapped his hands. "We should get to business. We have no idea when Raven and Kenkaku will be here, especially…" he smirked, "as they might be having a make-out session. As the JLA has tasked us with this military technology problem, we will do our absolute best to crack the case, but I think we might want to think about expanding the team." 

"What for?" asked Beast Boy, "We handled Slade on our own."

"Yes," replied Robin heavily, "But Slade was obsessed with us, so he made mistakes. This is different."

"Well," said Cyborg, "We already added Kaku."

"True," said Starfire, "Perhaps we could call on Thunder and Lightning?"

Robin drummed his fingers on the back of the couch. " Good idea, but I'm not sure where they are. Could the JLA help us with finding them?"

"That can be done," said Green Lantern. "By the way, we're leaving soon. We'll wait to say good-bye to Raven and Kenkaku, but after that, we're off."

"If you would have my knowledge of prophecy and legends, you may have it."

"Thanks Soothsayer. Consider yourself an honorary Titan."

The elevator doors swished open. "If only we could bring Terra's statue back to life," brooded Beast Boy.

_"Did you say bring a statue back to life?"_ asked Kenkaku. _"Raven-kun, is he talking about the statue I almost died under?"_

_"Hai.__ How did you know?_

_"Because that statue has a ki."_

_"A ki?"_

_"Hai.__ So it should be possible to bring her to life."_

_"Really?"_

"What are you two talking about?" asked Robin.

"Kenkaku thinks that it's possible to bring Terra back."

Beast Boy's head shot over to the two non-blonde Japanese-speakers. "You think we can bring her back?" he asked, hoping against hope.

_"Theoretically…"_ said Kenkaku, scratching the back of his head.

"Theoretically…" translated Raven.

Beast Boy shot across the room and grabbed Kenkaku by the collar. "HOW?!" He shook the ronin. "HOW?!"

_"Matte!__ Matte!"_ Kenkaku held his hands up in front of him. _"It's a matter of simply transferring enough ki to her that she can regenerate on her own. Sounds a lot easier than it is though." _Raven translated.

Beast Boy released Kenkaku's collar. "So how do we do this?"

_"The same way I brought Raven back, just on a greater scale."_ Again, Raven translated.

Cyborg couldn't resist. "So instead of just kissing her, you French her?"

Kenkaku squeezed his eyes tightly shut, grimaced, blushed, and tried to control the twitch in his hands, which wanted to move to iaijutsu position. A lamp also blew out, evidence of Raven's displeasure. _"Iya."_He sighed. _"From what I can tell, she is in a state that she has the absolute minimum of ki to stay alive, but is so low that she cannot regenerate any. The effect is much like cryogenic freezing."_

Soothsayer translated to let Raven calm down. Beast Boy looked overjoyed. "Well, let's go!"

_"It isn't quite that simple."_ The ronin sighed again. _"To bring a person back from this point requires an extremely large amount of ki, almost equivalent to three-fourths of the ki from a person with -extremely- strong ki. I am at the low end of that range, but the amount is roughly the same." _Raven translated this.

"So what is the problem?" asked Starfire.

_"The ki must be transferred. Some of the ki is lost in that transfer, like a directed energy weapon losing power over range. And, if my ki is too different from…Terra-san, ka?" _At Raven's nod, he went on. _"If the ki of the two people are not similar enough, then the transfer is screwed up even more. Easiest is between so-called soul mates."_ Before any of the Titans could say anything, he went on. _"Yes, they do exist, but finding out who is one's soul mate is often never accomplished."_

After Raven had translated, the Titans looked among themselves. Finally, Robin looked dead into his eyes. "Can you do it?"

_"Moshikashitara…hai."_ He nodded._ "Hai."_

"Whatever you need to do, tell us."

_"I will need to regenerate my ki, and then do quite a bit of meditation and kata. It will take roughly a month to prepare and,"_ he grimaced, _"I cannot use a single bit of kiaijutsu during that time period."_

"In other words?" asked Beast Boy after Raven had translated.

Robin bit his lip. "He can't fight a duel against these people who want his sword."

_"Hai."_

Beast Boy screamed. He knew that much Japanese. "SO WHAT GOOD IS IT!? THOSE BASTARDS COME EVERY FEW DAYS! WE CAN'T SAVE HER UNTIL THEY'RE ALL GONE!?"

_"Iya."_ Kenkaku shook his head. _"Not if we can train someone to fight for me. You know, like a test to get to me. They could use Muramasa." _The Titans nodded and smiled as Raven translated this.

"Or another weapon like it," put in Soothsayer. "I will search my mental library for pertinent legends and prophecies."

"Sounds like you kids have a plan. You've got this well in hand," said Green Lantern as he and Hawkgirl stood up. "Good luck."

"Keep it up," said Hawkgirl, "Good to see kids doing something productive these days."

* * *

"Ah. This might be something," said Soothsayer, coming out of a trance. "I found a cache of weapons, related to Kanesada and Muramasa, mentioned in the main prophecy." 

"Okay," said Robin, who had been sitting on the couch with Starfire, watching a movie. Soothsayer had been in that trance for a while. "Can we get them?"

"That depends."

"On what, Friend Soothsayer?"

"On how far you are willing to go to get them."

Robin's mask stretched as he raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, as much as I can tell, they're in Japan. The legend literally says that they are to be found in 'the country that was dripped from a sword'," Soothsayer tapped her temple. "Another legend in this head of mine is a little more well-known, detailing the formation on the Japanese island chain."

"The legend with the god's sword and the perfect drops, correct?" asked Starfire.

"Yes," said Soothsayer, surprised, "How did you know?"

Robin smirked. "We were watching Last Samurai."

"Oh. Well, that's nice. The point is, these weapons, which are mentioned in Kenkaku's prophecy I might add, are in Japan. And the prophecy does seem to want you to get them."

"You're saying that we need to go to Japan?" asked Robin incredulously, "Well, at least we have three Japanese speakers."

"Actually, you only have two that can leave the city without a fearful cost, and Kenkaku will go stir crazy if he doesn't have someone to talk to."

"True. What else is said about the cache?"

"It contains two polearms, and what I think is a nodachi. The interesting thing is that it also seems to contain a tai chi sword."

"A Chinese weapon?" asked Robin.

"Right. The weapons are earmarked for the martial artist, the visitor, the half man, and the shape-shifter, respectively."

"So you are saying that we will all acquire weapons, correct, Friend Soothsayer?"

"Except Raven, yes."

"Okay then. We'll leave Jump City to Raven and Kenkaku. The rest of us will head to Japan, and you'll play translator, Soothsayer."

"Strange," mused Starfire. "Did not Friend Kenkaku wish to go to Japan before we met him?"

"I think he still does."

* * *

"So, that's the plan. Everyone got it?" Robin looked out at the Titans as they looked at him, except for Kenkaku, who was making sushi.

Cyborg quirked his remaining eyebrow. "You're leaving two Titans behind to defend the city while the rest of us go to -Japan-?"

"And why those two?" asked Beast Boy, "They should be going! They actually speak the language."

_"I can't leave the city, due to these weapon-toting maniacs."_

"Kenkaku can't leave, and he needs a combat partner that can understand what he's saying. As Soothsayer is not, no offense, particularly well-suited to combat, that leaves just me."

"None taken, Raven."

"A question, Robin?"

"Sure, Star."

"Why are we taking a boat over?"

"I figured it would be good to take a boat over. That would let us take the T-car along. Any other questions or objections?"

_"Iie."_

"Not at all."

"Booyah! Let's get it on!"

"I'm up for it, dude!"

"No objections."

"Glorious! Let us go!"

"Like you said, Star, let's go!"

The Titans dashed off to get ready, excepting Raven and Kenkaku. He smiled. _"Oh well, more sushi for us."_

Raven's lips curved. _"And unlimited access to the Gamestation."_

_"I'm seeing Battle Royale on the big screen, how about you?"_

_"Oh yes."_

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text Glossary:

Nanda: "What the hell?"

Konpai no ki: roughly "Exhaustion of spirit."

Raven-kun no baka: "Raven, you fool."

Ki: "Spirit." See earlier chapters for a more detailed definition

Hai: "Yes."

Matte: "Stop."

Iya: "No." (strong)

Ka: Modifier, equivalent to a question mark.

Moshikashitara: "Maybe."

Nodachi: "Great sword." A larger version of the katana.


	12. Alone Time: Part 2

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English 

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Raven and Kenkaku watched the ship the other Titans were on sail away, waving at the figures on the afterdeck. Both were in full uniform, a new one in both cases. Cyborg had somehow found time in the last two days of frantic preparation for the expedition to make Kenkaku a set of clothing that matched his purchased outfit in most respects but incorporated a degree of body armor and fireproofing. He had made a similar dark blue and black riding outfit for Raven with pockets for a number of depleted uranium spheres for when she needed heavy firepower on the go with no improvisation. It had roughly the same looks and characteristics as Kenkaku's outfit, but she still wore her cloak over it. 

Kenkaku looked at Raven and grinned. _"Orders, Raven-sama?"_

The half-_oni_ rolled her eyes and floated their helmets over to them. _"Once around the park, James."___

Kenkaku used the integrated com system in his jacket to call the Shinobi. _"Heh.__ If I must."_ The ultrabike pulled up next to them and he flung his leg over it, settling into riding position. Raven climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She settled the helmets on holders on the bike. Kenkaku started the bike and drove off the pier, pulling into traffic, and moving at a sedate pace. _"So where to, really?"___

_"I don't know. Outside of crime fighting, I generally don't head into town." _She looked at his hair. _"Since when do you wear your hair tied back?"_

The swordsman shrugged. _"I just adopted it recently. I found a rather plain tie laying around and decided to make use of it. What? Too Kenshin-ish?"_

_"No. Actually, it looks good."_ Raven blushed. _What did I just say!?_

Kenkaku could feel his cheeks heating as well. _Please don't look in the mirrors, please don't look in the mirrors. _He laughed a small nervous laugh _"Guess I'll keep it then." Where are those helmets when you really need them?_ He gave himself a quick mental shake. _Wow, maybe Soothsayer-san was right…_

The light turned red. Kenkaku put on the brakes and put his leg down to wait for the light to change. A convertible pulled up next to them, loaded with four teenage girls. "Hey! It's two of the Titans! Hi!" The driver smiled and waved.

"No way!" The girl riding shotgun leaned over the driver's lap to look at the two metahumans. "Omigawd! It's Raven and that new guy! What's his name?"

Kenkaku gave a lopsided smile to Raven and quirked an eyebrow. _"Looks like I still have a certain degree of obscurity." _

One of the girls in the back shrieked and swooned. "Take me now, Kenkaku-sama."

_"Perhaps not," _amended the two in stereo, with matching slightly disturbed expressions.

"Don't mind her," said the final girl, who was holding a camera. "Could I get a shot of you guys?"

_"Shua."___

"Go right ahead."

The girl snapped their picture. "Thanks!"

The light changed and the high schoolers took the turn, while the Titans went straight on.

* * *

_"Well, that was slightly disturbing," _said Kenkaku as he pulled to a stop at the next light. _"Gah!__ I hate badly timed lights!"_

_"You'd rather always be on the move, never stopping?"_

_"Sometimes…"_ The light went green and he started the bike again. _"Come on, you have to have some favorite places to go."_

_"I suppose. Turn right at the next light. I'll give you directions."_

Kenkaku smirked as he changed lanes and took the turn. _"I won't have to check Kanesada and Muramasa at the door, right?"_

_"Depends."_Raven smirked a bit, _"Can you compose a poem about it?"_

He smirked right back. _"How charitable are you feeling on the definition of 'poem'?"_

Kenkaku had to duck a little to get through the door of Raven's favorite poetry club. Raven barely fit through standing upright. Inside it was dark and rather drearily decorated. There was surprisingly little smoke. By the swordsman's estimation, no one in the club was a great threat. He headed towards the table Raven nodded at while she went to get them something to drink.

_"Is green tea okay? They don't have Dr. Pepper here."_

_"Oh yes, quite. I'm pretty close to being addicted to green tea, too." _He raised the cup to his lips and took a sip. _"Mmm. Very good.__ So when do I get to hear your poetry?"_

_"I have to write it first. You too." _She handed him a few sheets of paper and a pencil she had brought over from the counter. _"Don't worry about it being Japanese. You can get the point across by feeling alone."_

_"Don't tell me you want me to go up there and read some of my drivel."_

_"I'm sure it's not drivel. Try it. You might like it."_

_"Okay," _said Kenkaku, still not convinced. He absentmindedly held the mechanical pencil against the paper as he tried to think of something, anything to write. No such luck. He looked over at Raven, who bit her lip as her pencil skittered across her sheet of paper. She slightly shook her head before crossing out a line, adding another, then changing it again. _How is this so easy for you?_ _I can't think of a thing._ She flew through sheet after sheet, idea after abortive idea thrust onto the paper, then changed, flipped around, or simply discarded. _It's a shame I can't see what she's putting down there._

'pak'

Kenkaku felt a jolt run up his arm as he finished his signature. He looked down at his hand, still holding the mechanical pencil. He nearly did a double take when he saw the papers beneath it. _"My god…"_ he breathed softly. The papers each had a poem on them. Four poems in all, and he had also drawn a pretty credible sketch at the top of each one. One was about battle, one about wandering, one about Kanesada and Muramasa, and the final one…was about Raven.

Kenkaku's eyes widened. The other poems had good sketches, yes, but the picture that headed this sheet was nothing short of magnificent. It was a picture of her as she appeared before him now, hood off, biting her lip as she crouched over her writing. He had even captured the lighting conditions. She was the very vision of loveliness in the dark.

He scanned the poem, his eyes going yet wider. It was of a -very- romantic nature, and far better than he would ever expect from his feeble mind. _Wow._ His eyes finally alighted on the signature. _What in the hell!? _He had signed his real name. All the others were signed with his superhero alias. _Dear lord._ He carefully folded up the page and stuck it in his jacket.

He took a sip of green tea. _I really shouldn't be thinking of her like that. I'm always moving. It would not be fair to her…to either of us._ He sighed. Another poet droned on at the mike as he took another sip. He clapped politely as the poet finished, only to hear the sound of folding paper, herald of Raven pocketing her poems.

Raven looked over the table at him. _"Did you write anything good?"_

The swordsman shrugged. _"I don't know. I guess I wrote something. Here."_

Raven took the poems, written in kanji, hiragana, and katakana. She mumbled the poems as she read them, her eyes wide. _"These are amazing. I wish the whole crowd could understand these. I thought you said you couldn't write poetry well."_

_"I don't know how I wrote them. My hand just kinda started moving on its own."_

Raven gave him a smile. _"Then you were writing from you ki."_

_"I guess," _said the ronin, taking them back, _"But I don't think I want to read any of them on stage."_

_"I'm glad I got to see them, at least."_

_"You're welcome. So what about you?"_

Raven looked a little uncomfortable. _"Some very good things, but nothing for the stage."_ She looked slightly embarrassed. _"Actually, I found myself writing in Japanese. Ready to go?"_

_"Sure."_ They stood up and left money on the table. Kenkaku put his other poems in another jacket pocket. The Titans walked towards the door. Raven sighed as she went out the door, casting a forlorn look back at the stage. She really did wish she could have read her poems. But like Kenkaku's poems, they were not to share with the world, no matter how much she wished to shout their message to the world. _He certainly has a penchant for creating turmoil. _She raised her fingers to her lips, thinking back to an earlier accident. _And I'm really starting to like it._

* * *

Kenkaku blinked at the dark street. By his estimation, the sun had just gone down. _Wow. We were in there for a while. I wonder how long I was staring at her. _He tapped the hidden button on his sleeve that called the Shinobi. The door opened behind him and Raven joined him as the Shinobi pulled up in front of them. _"Time flies in there."_

_"It certainly does. So where do you want to go?"_

_"Meh, I don't know. I haven't been here that long, you know…WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? Was that kid driving a car with a video game controller?"_

Indeed, Gizmo had just shot by in an extremely nice muscle car. Raven dragged her hand over her face. _"Not again."_

_"Who was that?"_ asked Kenkaku as he mounted the ultrabike and put on his helmet. Raven got on behind him, putting on her helmet.

_"His name is Gizmo-san. He's a gadgeteer with no idea of what makes a good insult. He's kinda a rival to Cyborg-san, and is part of a three-person supervillian team from an academy called H.I.V.E."_

Kenkaku gunned the bike and they shot off in pursuit. _"His teammates?"_

_"A strongman with little smarts but plenty of muscle called Mammoth-san, and a girl who can fire probability-changing hex blasts called Jinx-san. She'll probably go after me if we see them. Any other questions?"_

_"Yeah.__ Why'd you say not again?"_

_"When Cyborg-san first made the T-car, it was stolen and ended up in Gizmo-san's hands. He went on a crime spree with it. Cyborg-san and I finally caught up to him, but the first T-car was stolen by yet another villain and Cyborg-san had to blast it. He and I built the second one. The third and current model was a collaborative effort by all the Titans."_

_"Ah."_ Kenkaku took a turn that looked likely to him, due to the skid marks. _"Found 'em. A pink-haired girl is getting into the car."_

The muscle car's engine roared as it took off. _"That'd be Jinx-san. Are we going after them?"_

_"Is the sun going to rise tomorrow?"_

_"In this line of work?"___

_"Point."_ Kenkaku fed the engine a little more power, keeping the car in sight. _"So, do you want to get a little practice riding?"_

_"Not driving, but I suppose I can try riding normally."_

_"I thank you from the depths of my spleen. Let's go."_

'VRRRRROW!'

__Kenkaku opened up the throttle. The Shinobi popped a wheelie from the sheer power, and the Titan's rode it for close to 100 meters before the front wheel hit the road and they assumed a normal riding position.

'VRRREEEEEEEEEEEEM!'

* * *

Gizmo rejoiced at his good fortune. Not only had he stolen a sweet ride for his team's evening on the town, Mammoth was sick, leaving him alone with Jinx, who he had huge crush on. Yep, everything was awesome! Everything except the sound of a sportsbike engine that he could hear over his car's engine, no mean feat. "Crud! That isn't that snot-for-brains, Robin, is it?"

_"ORA, OMAE! ZUIBAN BUSUINA YAKARU DA NA!" _yelled a pair of voices. Both the H.I.V.E. agents looked over to see Kenkaku and Raven flipping them off.

"You must be joking," said Jinx in disbelief at her rival's completely out of character behavior. The Shinobi slipped behind the car. Gizmo gunned the engine, but Kenkaku easily kept up. "It's Raven and the other one must be the new Titan. This could be fun." She took one of Gizmo's energy rifles and crawled to the back seat.

'SMASH!'

The pink-haired witch smashed the rear window with the rifle's butt and lay the weapon down on the sill, snugging the weapon's stock up against her shoulder. "Blast those crud-munchers, Jinx!"

"With great pleasure," smirked Jinx as she lined her sights up on the Titans behind her.

* * *

_"I admit, that was a great deal of fun,"_ laughed Raven.

_"The looks on their faces were priceless," _said Kenkaku, shaking with laughter. _"Oh, heads up."_ The glass in the rear window shattered and Jinx set up the rifle. _"Ready on the shield?"___

_"Ready. Let's get them."_

The ronin smiled a wolfish smile as he sideslipped the first blast from the rifle.

Jinx cursed. "Well, he can certainly ride. This might be a little harder than I thought." She fired a triad of energy blasts, which Kenkaku easily dodged. "Hold still!"

Surprisingly enough, the ronin obliged her, even if he couldn't hear her. Jinx lined up the shot and fired, only to have it impact on an obsidian shield. She growled and triggered another two blasts, both of which were easily dodged. She could just imagine the smirks on the faces of the Titans. "Dammit, die!" Another brace of bolts, and still no hits.

_"This is really pissing her off," _said Raven as they wove in and out of fire.

_"Don't I know it,"_ laughed Kenkaku as he activated the Shinobi's weapon systems. The gun mounts folded out from the bike's body and started tracking. He placed the crosshairs of the system right alongside the driver's side front wheel, and selected just the left-side gun.

'NEOWOWOW!'

Pulse bolts shot out like a glowing whip, ripping a furrow in the street.

* * *

"AHHH! Crud! Crud!" yelled Gizmo as the street seemed to explode next to him. "Jinx! Kill those snotheads!

"I'm trying," gritted out Jinx as she took her next shot. "Come on! Die!"

'PHSSSOW!'

'BWOOOM!'

The Shinobi's concussion rocket blew up right in front of the muscle car, spinning them out of control.

'BRA-BAM!'

The car broadsided a light pole. Gizmo looked around dazedly for a second before unbuckling frantically and climbing into the back seat. "JINX!? JINX!?" The pink-haired sorceress was laid out with a nasty cut on her head and arm. Gizmo worriedly felt for a pulse. It was there. Weak, but there. And she was still breathing.

His eyes hardened as he heard the distinctive sound of the Shinobi pulling up near the wreck, and the two Titans speaking in that strange language. He was going to make them pay.

* * *

Kenkaku grimaced as he pulled up next to the wreck. _"That was not the effect I was hoping for. I wonder if they're okay?"_

Raven hopped off the bike and took off her helmet. _"I wouldn't worry about it. They wouldn't die so easily."_ She pulled out one of the depleted uranium spheres, ready to fire it if necessary.

Kenkaku put down the kickstand and took off his helmet. _"If you say so."_ He hopped off the bike and drew Kanesada.

'RRRREEASK'

The sound of rending metal filled the air as Gizmo ripped the roof of the crashed car off with his pack's spider legs. His pack's servos whined as he rose into the air, holding his controller, two energy rifles on robotic arms appearing over his shoulders. "Die snotheads!"

'PSHEOW! PSHEOW!'

Raven and Kenkaku dove opposite ways as the energy bolts tore up the street where they had been standing. _"He looks pissed!"_ yelled the ronin as he dodged energy fire. _"Kuso!"_ He flipped over a blast and dove behind the car to avoid another one.

_"That sounds like a huge understatement, Kenkaku-kun! Where's Jinx-san?"_ Gizmo started climbing over the car to get at the swordsman. _"Oh, no you don't! _**AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!**

'TSSSS-KRANG!'

The depleted uranium sphere she had been holding shot in a streak of obsidian energy towards Gizmo, and trashed one of his energy rifles. "Crud! You stupid idiot!" He wheeled on her and started firing energy blasts, which she avoided or deflected as the situation called for.

_"Jinx-san looks like she's out for the…NANDA!?"_

'PZANG!'

A pink hex blast went sailing into the air. _"Chikushou!__ Never mind."_ Kenkaku jumped into the air before landing on the car's wreck and flipping off of it, ahead of two hex blasts. He even got in a slash of Kanesada that trashed Gizmo's other energy rifle.

'tp'

He landed lightly next to Raven. She looked over at him. _"You take Gizmo-san. Jinx-san is mine."_

_"Youkai."_ Kenkaku slashed at Gizmo, who parried withthe thick part of one of his spider legs. Kanesada made a small gouge in the metal, but no more than that. Kenkaku's eyes went wide. _That's some strong stuff._

"Hey snothead! How do you feel about me field testing my Mk. II pack on you?" Gizmo flipped a switch and his controller's cord retracted. The two back legs formed feet and fit onto his legs, while the other two legs locked onto his arms, giving him huge, scythe-like claws. Panels retracted on the front arms, revealing a machine gun on the left and a flamethrower on the right, probably controlled by the triggers on the handles Gizmo was now holding. A buzzing hum filled the air, and the claws seemed to blur around the edges, almost imperceptibly. "Like it? Two vibrosycthes, a .60 caliber chain gun, and a flamethrower. Plus extra speed and as much strength as your Cyborg."

Kenkaku flipped his hand from side to side. _"Yare, yare.__ I seriously doubt the strength claims, gakidomo."_ He drew Muramasa and slid to a ready stance.

"DIE!" Gizmo triggered the chain gun.

'AKA-AKA-AKA-AKA-AK!'

Kenkaku dove out of the way of the cone of tracers. _"KOTOWARU!"___

'Wheooom!'

Gizmo brought the arm around, trying to keep the gunfire on the ronin, not letting up on the trigger one bit. Muramasa intercepted a few stray bullets. Kenkaku's eyes narrowed. _The vibration makes the chain gun inaccurate, and paired with the low cyclic rate, it makes that weapon ineffective for anything but keeping people's heads down. _Gizmo realized this too, as he brought the other arm around.

'Whoooet!'

Kenkaku came out of acceleration mode, and dashed forward, ducking below the flamethrower-equipped arm, stabbing at Gizmo with Muramasa. The diminutive genius shrieked and slashed at Kenkaku with his left arm. The ronin blocked with Kanesada, but the blow was powerful enough to send him flying towards the other arm's blade.

'Wheooom!'

Kenkaku entered acceleration mode again and put Muramasa up to block the scythe arm. He took the blow at the base of the blade and used it and the tsuba to flip over the arm without losing any fingers. He jumped back and shook his head, only to see fire boiling out at him in slow motion. The ronin dove to the side and the stream of fire roasted a storefront, which was mercifully closed. Gizmo tried to bring the fire stream around onto the swordsman, but he was fast enough to get out of the way even without being in accelerated mode.

'Whooet!'

Kenkaku jumped into a tree to avoid the next blast of fire. He dove and grabbed another tree's branch and spun around it, flinging himself high into the air, and coming down in a double sword jump slash. Gizmo parried with his gun arm and as Kenkaku jumped back, he triggered another burst of flame. Kenkaku dodged this one too. _I hope Raven-kun is faring better with Jinx-san._

* * *

Raven's eyes glowed as she dashed about the battlefield, keeping an aura of her energy around her at all times. Jinx and she were firing off rounds of attacks, then ducking and dodging. It was a stalemate that could go on almost forever. She had learned early on that keeping in the skies was a losing proposition. Jinx had plenty of cover and could just act like an anti-aircraft gun if Raven took to the air in anything more than a leap. Raven hurled another chunk of rubble at Jinx, who hurdled it and flung a hex blast right back. Raven caught it in the stomach, her protective aura protecting her from the worst of the blast. Still, the impact was more than enough to send her tumbling backwards. Raven scrambled behind another now-junked car to catch her breath.

_This is going nowhere, and rather quickly. Think Raven, think! Our powers are roughly the same, but mine are applied in more of a direct nature, while hers are mostly probability changing. Not that that means anything right now. She's hurt, but while I really don't like to admit it, she's probably got more raw power than me, and is better at running and jumping around. When it comes right down to it, she's a little ahead right now. I have to do something to catch her off guard. But what!? And what the heck is pressing against my leg?_

Raven reached down to her pocket and withdrew another depleted uranium ball. Her eyes widened. _I forgot about these._ She smirked a smirk that would make Kenkaku proud and tossed the ball into the air before snatching it on the way down. _This will surprise you a bit._ She anchored the ball to her hand with some of her obsidian energy and spread her fingers, creating an impromptu sight. Next she concentrated on Jinx's cover, a trashed minivan. Coating it in obsidian energy, she pushed it backwards.

Just as she had hoped, Jinx dashed out from behind it to avoid being smashed against a storefront. The pink haired witch started running across the street for more cover, playing right into Raven's hands.

The half-demon flipped into the air, using her telekinesis to boost her and slide her behind Jinx. She flipped as thrust her arm out, cloak billowing out behind her, and squinted, lining up the shot between her fingers. She corrected for her fall and…

'TSSS-CRUNCH!'

The uranium sphere shot from her hand, looking like an obsidian arrow. The deadly attack shot straight over Jinx's shoulder and into the street, creating a very large pothole, but doing absolutely nothing to Jinx.

Which was how Raven had planned it. Jinx ran on for two more steps, and prepared to leap the crater, thanking her lucky stars that the sphere had not hit her when…

'PWOOOOSH!'

A geyser of pressurized water shot out from the water main that Raven had punctured, smashing right into Jinx as the witch started her leap. Jinx was blown backwards, helped along by Raven, straight into a truck where the impact cold-cocked Jinx.

Raven checked to make sure that Jinx was actually out, then turned to find Kenkaku with Jinx in a telekinetic tow. Her battle with Jinx had drawn her quite a ways from Kenkaku.

* * *

Kenkaku was starting to dearly hate that flamethrower. Gizmo was having an easy time keeping him at range with it, due to the swordsman's self-imposed kiaijutsu ban, and the same metahuman's desire to keep his poems intact.

And Gizmo's insults were getting annoying. Honestly, could the kid not think of anything but 'snot', 'crud', and 'garbage' and compound words using the aforementioned three for insults. Back when Kenkaku could still speak English, he had a much larger and much more offensive vocabulary of insults.

There had to be a way to take Gizmo down at range without using kiaijutsu. But dammed if Kenkaku could see it. At least until his eyes alighted on the Shinobi. Kenkaku smirked and led Gizmo out around to in front of the ultrabike. Going accelerated, he jumped up and flipped so that he landed standing on the bike. As Gizmo watched, dumbfounded, the ronin dropped out of accelerated mode and kicked his helmet in the air, while sheathing Muramasa. He snagged the falling helmet and put it on.

_"Pulse cannons, Target: mechanical upper arms. Utae."_

'NEOWOWOWOWOW!'

_"Cease fire. Concussion rocket, Target: center of mass. Detonate five feet from target. Utae."_

'PHSSSOW!'

'BWOOOM!'

When the smoke cleared, Gizmo was out cold on his back, his exo-suit's arms severed at the 'elbow'.

'clap…clap…clap…clap…clap'

_"Very inventive, little Roma.__ Very, very inventive. But I am afraid that I cannot be defeated by such means."_

Kenkaku spun around, casting off his helmet and drawing Muramasa. A handsome blonde man in a rust red bodysuit adorned with kunai stood there. A pair of jitte gleamed in his hands. _"And you are?"_

The man bowed. _"You may call me Junsa. And I am here to perform a task." _He assumed a ready stance. _"Let us begin."_

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

-sama: Honorific, roughly translating to 'lord' or 'lady'.

Oni: "Demon."

Shinobi: Another name for a ninja, in this case the name of Kenkaku's ultrabike, which Cyborg made to look like a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R.

-san: Standard honorific, rough equivalent of 'Mr.', 'Ms.', or 'Mrs.'. Very versatile and may even be used to refer to enemies.

Shua: "Sure."

Kanji: Chinese characters. A form of Japanese writing.

Hiragana: Another form of Japanese writing.

Katakana: Yet another form of Japanese writing.

Ki: "Spirit/Soul", but it means so much more.

Ora, omae! Zuiban busuina yakaru da na!: "Hey, peon! You're a classless bastard!"

Kuso: "Shit."

-kun: The friendly, sometimes romantic, and rarely towards an inferior honorific.

Nanda: "What the hell?"

Chikushou: "Damn." Literally beast(s).

Youkai: "Roger."

Yare yare: A verbal brush-off. "Yeah, yeah."

Gakidomo: "Bratling."

Kotowaru: "I refuse."

Tsuba: A sword guard.

Utae: "Fire."

Kunai: A type of throwing blade that looks like a small spearhead with a stem attached.

Jitte: (Alternatively jutte.) Relative to the sai, it is a metal rod with a hook jutting out at a ninety-degree angle from the shaft to catch (and break) swords. Weapon of policemen in feudal Japan.

Junsa: "Policeman." In this case, a character armed with a pair of jitte. He appeared in the first chapter.

* * *

We edge closer and closer to the climax of the first arc of Waves of Fate. Tune in next time for yet another confrontation with the group that wants Kanesada, and a view of what's happening in the land of the rising sun.


	13. Alone Time: Part 3

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Kenkaku lunged at Junsa, leading with a stab of Muramasa. Junsa simply blurred out of the way, letting one jitte fall from his hand to hang by the cord attached to his wrist, and grabbing a kunai, which he slung at Kenkaku.

'GLICHK!'

The blade buried itself in the meat of Kenkaku's shoulder. _"Ahg!"_ Kenkaku gritted his teeth and pulled the blade out, sending it right back at the jitte-wielder.

'CLANG!'

A sweep of one of Junsa's jitte deflected the throwing blade. _"Oh, come now nephew. You can do far better than that."_

Blood leaked out from Kenkaku's wound, staining a small patch of his jacket red. _"Nephew?"___

_"Indeed. Like you, I am a descendent of a Demon of the Air. I am simply a hybrid of demon and human. However, one of my brothers sired a son with a hybrid of a human and a Demon of the Soul. I understand that roughly half of your human blood is that of the Roma group, while the rest is a mix on nearly every other blood on the planet. You have quite a bit more demon blood in you than you realized."_

_"What do you want? You aren't like the others."_

_"Very true.__ I was sent to perform a task, but I wish for you to come out on top of the prophecy."_

_"What?"_

_"I, unlike you, am bonded to my Lord, a Demon of Power. A bonded demon is granted one request that is unconditionally granted by their Lord, except their freedom. I asked for my lover's safety, but I found that I have made a great mistake. My children shall have to follow in my footsteps. I do not wish for them to be bonded to this demon. Unless my Lord is killed within a month, the first of my children shall be bonded to him. You are the only one that I know of that can kill him."_

_"Considering the way you are owning this fight, you might have the wrong guy for the job."_

_"No. You must simply harness your dual demon heritages. Your speed of the Air, and your skill of the Soul. If you can bring both together, you shall be more than powerful enough to eliminate me without trouble."_

_"I rather doubt this all, but you said you had a task to accomplish."_

_"Yes. I must unleash Kanesada's true potential. Regrettably, this means the loss of a stunning option, but Muramasa should be sufficient." _He held up a jitte. _"I am ready. Heed my words. Let me turn you into the fighter you should be, then spill my blood and save my children." _

_"I don't wish to ki…"_

_"Kill me? I have been caught up by the bloodlust far too many times. End my life, so that the prophecy may go on and my children shall be free. And I fear that that is the last sensible thing you will hear from me."_

Junsa's eyes glowed silver. Kenkaku could feel power simply radiating from him. Kenkaku went accelerated and nervously brought his swords to the ready.

Suddenly, Junsa disappeared and a brace of eleven kunai were flying at the swordsman.

'CLACK! CLANG! TZANG! GLICHK!'

Kenkaku desperately dodged and blocked but a blade still got through and hit him in the calf. He panted, shunting the pain away, as he searched his vision for Junsa.

'Cling!'

Junsa had trapped Kanesada with one of his jitte and twisted in the classic sword-breaking technique.

'CRACK!'

Junsa smiled and slid the jitte off the apparently unmarked but vibrating blade.

'FLASH!'

A pulse of light burst from the blade and Kenkaku. The ronin's eyes glowed silver-white. **_"KIAI!"_**Kenkaku slashed Muramasa across Junsa's belly, the already powerful force of the blade reinforced by a wave of force from kiaijutsu. The combined force sent Junsa flying through -two- buildings, the swordsman hot on his trail.

Junsa looked up in time to hurriedly defend himself from an overhead attack of Muramasa, the blade of the bokken nearly forcing his jitte to the ground. _This was the right choice,_ was the last thing he had time to think before he lowered his jitte and Kanesada came around in a blinding arc that separated his head from his body.

Kenkaku's eyes stopped glowing, his face covered in blood. Shakily, he flipped blood off of Kanesada and sheathed it, before falling to his knees, using Muramasa to support him.

He heard heavy footsteps and the whining of servos. He turned a blurry vision up to the sources, just in time to see a huge hand and arm grab him and lift him into the air. "So this is the new Titan," observed a voice which obviously belonged to a very large and strong person. "He's not afraid to kill."

"Drop that crud-muncher, Mammoth. I'm going to kill him here and now." The buzzing hum filled the air again. Kenkaku's vision cleared up enough to see Gizmo up again and a long-haired, vaguely animalistic tank of a teen holding him up. Gizmo seemed to want to use his pack's vibrosycthes to carve Kenkaku up before burning him to an unidentifiable carbon stain with the flamethrower.

"We might want to keep him as a hostage. Perhaps Jinx has fallen in battle."

"A prisoner exchange, yeah, maybe. Or the new headmaster might want him. But what are the odds of Jinx losing to that snotty idiot, Raven."

"Pretty high, apparently," said Raven in a deadly tone as she stalked onto the scene, a depleted uranium sphere primed and ready, and Jinx's unconscious body following along in a aura of obsidian energy. "Drop Kenkaku now."

"Give us Jinx first!" yelled Gizmo.

Raven floated Jinx to halfway in between the two groups and trained the sphere on Jinx's head. She took another in her other hand and trained it on Gizmo. "These are more than capable of killing you or her. Call them insurance. Give me Kenkaku."

Gizmo nodded to Mammoth, who slowly walked over to Raven and lay Kenkaku down gently. "May I retrieve Jinx?"

"Go ahead, then get your asses off the streets." Raven watched as the HIVE agents ran for it, then breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Kenkaku. She shook her head. _"I swear, I can't really see you losing to Gizmo." _She peeled back his jacket and placed her hand on his wound, gritting her teeth as she healed it.

The swordsman shook his head. _"Wasn't him. I had to fight a half-demon named Junsa."_ He groaned as he weakly pointed towards Junsa's body. _"His corpse is over there."_ His finger shifted a bit. _"His head is over there."_

Raven looked over at the corpse and severed head. _"I've seen him before! He was with the guy with a rapier that dropped me into the sea before I met you!"_

_"Apparently he was my uncle."_

Raven's eye widened. _"You're a…"_

_"Half-demon, yeah.__ I was pretty sure I had some demon blood, but it turns out I have about as much as you. He did something to unlock Kanesada's full potential as well as mine." _His eyes fluttered. _"Agh.__ I seem to be in a state of ki exhaustion, yet again."_

Raven helped him stand up, supporting him with his arm looped around he shoulders. _"How'd you know I was a half-demon?"_

Kenkaku smiled wearily. _"I can sense ki, and demon ki feels very different from human." _He stumbled. _"We'd better get back to the Tower."_

_"How?"_Raven looked over at the Shinobi. _"Do you think you can hold on?"_

_"You're going to drive?"_

_"No time like the present to learn."_ Raven grabbed Junsa's jitte with her telekinesis as she helped Kenkaku onto the bike. She took off her cloak and tied it around them.

_"My grip isn't that feeble."_

_"Nostalgia."___

Kenkaku gave a weak laugh as he laid his head on Raven's shoulder. _"It wasn't that long ago."_

_"Maybe not, but it feels like it."_

* * *

Cyborg dusted his titanium and polymer hands off. "Boo-yah! Alright dawgs, the T-car is now Japanese road compliant." He smiled a huge grin. "I knew making the third T-Car's interior modular would be useful someday!"

Robin quirked an eyebrow. "Right."

Beast Boy cackled. "You just wanted to add another feature to the list."

Cyborg fumed and chased Beast Boy around the hold. Robin watched amusedly until Starfire flew down into the hold in a flying tackle and wrapped him up in a hug. "Japan ho!" yelled the affectionate Tamaranian girl.

Robin's grin, which had already broadened when she hugged him, now threatened to split his head in half. "Great!"

"Gotcha!" yelled Cyborg as he grabbed Beast Boy and took him to the floor. Beast Boy went gorilla and responded in kind.

He wriggled his way out of Starfire's arms and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Guys! We're coming up on Japan!"

Beast Boy and Cyborg stopped wrestling and dashed up to the deck. Starfire lifted Robin and flew past the boys.

Up on deck, Soothsayer was waving the other Titans towards the prow of the ship. The Titans all lined up as Mt. Fuji seemed to appear from the waves. The young heroes gasped as the majestic white peak hove into view. "Well there it is. Mt. Fuji," said Robin. "Is everyone ready for this?"

The Titans nodded. "Let's get to saving Terra," said Beast Boy.

* * *

The T-car sped along a road leading out of Tokyo, Cyborg at the wheel. The half-mechanical Titan tapped his fingers on the wheel as he hummed along to some Hendrix that the car was pumping straight into his auditory processors. "So where are we going?" asked Beast Boy of Soothsayer, who had programmed the GPS coordinates before they had left the boat.

"It's an island known as Okishima in the Seto Inland Sea. It's located quite near to the city of Takamatsu. Apparently one of two shrines on the island contains an underground passage to the storage room containing these weapons. We've got a bit of a trip ahead of us. Want to talk? I doubt that Robin would appreciate you interrupting his time with Starfire."

"Sure, I guess. So what's your deal? Do you have any powers at all?"

"My mind is connected to every prophecy ever made and has a record of every legend. The clarification of any said prophecy can take some time, and with so many legends, finding the right one can take quite a while."

"No combat powers?"

"No. But not all of crime-fighting is combat." Soothsayer nodded at Robin. "He is a consummate detective, and this has contributed greatly to his success."

"Huh."

"You seem very committed to saving Terra." Beast Boy crossed his arms and growled. "I'm sorry."

He uncrossed his arms and sighed. "No. You couldn't have known. Terra is a very sore spot for the Titans. Me…" He sighed again. "Much more so."

"Do you wish to talk about it?"

"No, but I don't have any thing better to do. Where to start?"

"The beginning?"

"In the desert then." Beast Boy leaned back and thought back. "We were hunting for a giant, mutated scorpion that we still don't know how it got that way. " He looked back at Soothsayer from the front with a faint smile on his face. "It was chasing Terra. Just as we were ready to take it down, she dropped a rock bridge on it."

"Resourceful girl."

"You have no idea. Actually, she was a lot like Kenkaku."

"What do you mean?"

"Terra was a drifter too. She had her reasons, but she liked it."

"I think Kenkaku feels that he just doesn't fit in, but what was Terra's reason?"

Beast Boy got a dejected look on his face. "She couldn't completely control her powers, and because she had control of the rocks and earth…"

"I see."

"Actually, that's where the trouble came from. I learned that early on and promised her I'd keep it a secret."

"You were close to her, weren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"When I was still in high school, I took an elective psychology course. I've got a knack for it."

"Ah. Yeah, Terra and I were close. Robin later figured out that Terra couldn't control her powers. He mentioned it and she got mad at me. She left."

"And you found her as this statue?"

"No, it was much worse." He took a deep breath. "She came back with perfect control of her powers, and joined up. She and I ironed out the misunderstanding and everything looked great." He gave a happy sigh. "She was just amazing. She made me feel like I was worth something, made me complete, I don't know. I got up the courage to ask her out, and she said no, but later showed up at my window and took me out for what would've been the best night of my life if it wasn't for the fact that she betrayed my friends to Slade."

"Slade?"

"Yeah, he was our big enemy for quite a while. He orchestrated most of the trouble sent our way when we were still pretty new, and for a while afterwards. We've been getting a break from him since a bit before Kenkaku showed up. We think he's dead. Robin also thinks he's the same man as Deathstroke the Terminator, a rather famous assassin. Anyway, I rejected Terra, and she went entirely over to Slade's side. She nearly killed us all, but instead just sealed us underground. We escaped, fought back, and Terra redeemed herself by fighting back against Slade and stopping the volcano her powers accidentally set off. That's when she went statue."

"Oh."

Beast Boy hung his head. "It just feels wrong with her that way. Actually, I feel wrong like that. I really can't say what the others think."

"They seem to want her back."

Beast Boy shook his head. "That's more for my sake than anything. Sometimes I actually wonder if we're going to stop short of bringing her back."

"When the prophecy of the warrior of the waves ends, the prophecy of the maiden of the dust shall begin. Assuming all goes well, of course."

"What?"

"Just think about it a bit."

* * *

"Well, this is the second shrine," said Cyborg. "Figures it'd be the one without a path to it."

'BOOM!'

A ray of blue sonic energy hit the ground just in front of Cyborg's feet.

'ZZZZAP!'

A ray of lightning turned dirt into glass in front of Soothsayer. She jumped back. "Ah!"

_"MINIONS OF THE ONI LORD!__ RETREAT NOW OR BE ANNIHILATED BY IKAZUCHI AND RAIDEN!" _boomed a deep Japanese voice.

_"FEEL FREE TO STAY THOUGH, BAKA! WE WILL ENJOY ROASTING AND SMASHING YOU!" _yelled a much higher pitched voice.

"Oh, it couldn't be," said Beast Boy. "THUNDER!? IS THAT YOU!? IT'S BEAST BOY!"

"Green one?" The blue-hued villain-turned-vigilante flew down from the tree he was perched in. "It is very good to see you."

_"Ototo!"_ Lightning flashed down from the tree he had been in. "Oh! The Titans."

"What are you doing here?" asked Thunder.

"We're here on business," said Robin. "We need to get the _yari_, _naginata, nodaichi, _and tai chi sword.

"Why?" snapped Lightning.

Soothsayer bowed to Thunder and Lightning. "Greetings, honored sirs. My name is Soothsayer. I am an expert on prophecies of all sorts. A prophecy now being acted out requires us to remove those weapons previously stated from the shrine for combat."

"We are not permitted to let anyone take even a single one of the weapons," replied Thunder.

Beast Boy's patience snapped. "Screw that! You'll be helping a girl come back to life! She needs us to get these weapons so we can protect the person that can bring her back to life!"

Thunder looked downhearted. "I wish I could let you take the weapons, but such is not permitted of me."

Before Beast Boy could explode again, Robin cut in. "Are you working for the government?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps we could go speak to your superiors for permission. You could take us, and we could leave behind some of our people to help guard the shrine."

"That sounds reasonable. Lightning will take you to our superiors."

"Good. Star, Soothsayer, you two come with me. Cyborg, Beast Boy, you stay here with the T-car."

"Right dawg."

* * *

Raven had gotten them back without incident, but Kenkaku had fallen asleep on the way. She supported him as she walked to his room, preferring it to the impersonality of telekinesis. She was surprised to see his room, as it was so spare. She knew that it had been done over in a traditional Japanese style, but had no idea that it contained so little. But when she thought about it, it made sense. This was to him, a temporary place. She sighed at this thought and sat him down on the bed that was decidedly most un-Japanese.

She untied his hair, removed his swords, and took off his jacket, lying him down on the bed and putting the covers over him. She smiled as she looked down at his peaceful figure, then turned to place his swords in their places in his sword rack.

_"I wish…I wish you could see me as more than just the one that can talk to you." _She shook her head, turning and walking out of the room to mend his jacket.

* * *

Raven emptied the pockets of Kenkaku's jacket and set the contents aside, holding her hand above the cut in the shoulder created by Junsa's kunai. Obsidian energy coated the threads and they seemed to flow back together, returning to a state as good as new. She narrowed her eyes and pulled the bloodstain from the fabric by force of magic. She held the jacket up and nodded. None of the systems Cyborg had put into it were damaged so for all intents and purposes it was as good as new.

_Better really,_ thought Raven, blushing as the scent of the jacket reached her nose. She put the jacket aside and looked over at the pile of things that had been in the jacket's pocket. It wasn't a very extensive list. His handheld-communicator, his vigilante registration card, his Titans expense card, and four poems with sketches. _Wait…didn't he write -three- poems?_

Raven sorted through the sheets of paper. Three of them she had indeed seen, but the one with a picture of her at the top… _Wow. He draws better than he writes._

Before she could stop herself, indeed before she could even think better of it, she read the poem. Her face went crimson as she read it over. Surprisingly, nothing broke or blew out. Nothing went flying. _"Ker Selais. I love Ker Selais." _A look of pure bliss crossed her face. _"And he loves me."_

That was when reality caught up with her. _"And we can never be together."_ Raven threw herself upon her bed and cried her loss, engulfed in a cyclone of obsidian energy and Gothic paraphernalia.

* * *

Beast Boy fumed as Thunder tried to explain why it was impossible to just give away the weapons. "Green one, I would gladly give the weapons to you, but the government will not let us!"

"So now you're some kind of government lapdog rather than a juvenile delinquent?" snapped Beast Boy.

"It is so," answered Thunder.

"Huh?"

"All metahuman vigilantes in Japan are not really vigilantes at all. We are either part of the police force, JSSDF, or a government agency. All true vigilantes are considered criminals. We have our orders. I am truly sorry."

"Never mind. Wonder if Kenkaku knows that."

"Pardon?"

"He's the guy who thinks he can save Terra. He only speaks Japanese, so he wants to move to Japan."

"Ah. Who is this Terra? A friend?"

"Yeah. A real good friend."

"I see…"

"YO DAWGS! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!"

Beast Boy and Thunder burst outside to see Cyborg facing off with a large group of ninja. "This is far too cliché," said Beast Boy.

"But very deadly," replied Thunder. "I fear we will not be able to hold out against these attackers. As he said this, the apparent leader of the ninja unsheathed his sword and attacked Cyborg.

"Kenkaku can have this country!" yelled Cyborg as he blocked the slash with the most armored part of his forearm. "I like it back home!"

Beast Boy and Thunder jumped into the fray, followed by roughly fifty ninja. Not good odds…

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Junsa: "Policeman." In this case, a character's name.

Kunai: A type of throwing blade.

Jitte: A metal rod with a hook mounted at a ninety degree angle from it for catching and breaking swords. A policeman's weapon in Shogunate Japan.

Oni: "Demon."

Ikazuchi: "Thunder."

Raiden: "Lightning."

Baka: "Fool/Idiot."

Ototo: "Younger brother."

Yari: "Spear."

Naginata: Basically a wakizashi on a pole.

Nodachi: A very large katana.

Tai chi sword: Think Green Destiny from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.


	14. Alone Time: Part 4

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

**"HYOH!"******Thunder fired a huge sonic blast, hitting one of the ninja in the stomach. The black clad attacker went flying backwards, but there were others. There were plenty others. And all were armed with blades.

Beast Boy went tiger and swiped a clawed paw at one of the attackers, only to be kicked in the face, and nearly split by an overhand blow of a ninja-to. As it was, he lost some fur to the razor-keen blade. The ninja jumped back, throwing a smoke bomb right in front of Beast Boy. The jade titan coughed and hacked as the white smoke cloud engulfed him. A pair of chains shot through the smoke and tangled up his legs, dropping him heavily to the ground as the ninja pair wielding the _kusari-gama _pulled on the chains. He shook his head dazedly and went snake, slithering out of the chains. A very timely move as the ninja jumped into the cloud of smoke, sickles flashing in an arc that would have buried their weapons in the tiger form's neck. The green snake slithered out of the cloud and turned into a grizzly. Beast Boy roared and reared up to swipe at the shade-like attackers but found four shiruken lodged in his belly for his trouble. He bellowed in pain and slashed one of the ninja, claws fully extended. The grizzly form's claws ripped straight through black cloth and flesh. Crimson red sprayed out in a fan.

A weight on a chain struck Beast Boy right between the eyes, stunning him. The sickle came around in a killing blow, but Cyborg punched the assassin, sending him flying. "This is goin nowhere fast dawg!"

Beast Boy transformed back to elf, rubbing his pained stomach and looking at the blood coated throwing stars on the ground. "Amen to that, dude!" He looked to Thunder. "We won't make it like this! We've got to get in to the shrine, man!"

"I agree, green one!" Thunder fell back towards the shrine. "From there we can…AGH!" Blood sprayed from Thunder's calf as a sickle of a _kusari-gama_ hooked onto his leg and the ninja holding the other end of the chain pulled. The blade sliced through muscle and tendons, lodging in the bone, rendering Thunder's leg useless. The ninja who struck the blow drew a knife and jumped at Thunder to deliver the final blow, dropping the chain. Thunder yanked the chain to him with one arm while he skeeted the ninja out of the sky with the other. "I cannot move!" He went to work with both arms, keeping the ninja back.

"Dammit!" cursed Cyborg as he laid down cover fire with his laser rifle arms. He had -not- come to Japan loaded for bear, a fact he was cursing right now. He could really use the autocannon right now. His plasma rifles had slow projectile speed and were apt to cause fires, and monkeying around with the sonic cannon? He had no time for that. So he was stuck with laser rifles. His missiles were of no use too. A fire would be a very bad thing. "Beast Boy! Go save Thunder!" Indeed, not even Thunder's sonic blasts and Cyborg's laser fire were truly keeping the ninja back. They were just buying time.

Beast Boy could see this, but the ninja were foes that he was ill-equipped to handle. And not only was Thunder in danger, but a pair on ninja had entered the shrine. Hating himself for it, he turned his back on Cyborg and Thunder and dashed towards the shrine as a cheetah.

* * *

"_Arigato gozaimasu, Hideyoshi-san."_ Soothsayer bowed to the Office of Internal Affairs official and turned to Robin and Starfire, permit in hand. "We can remove the spear, _naginata, nodachi, _and tai chi sword."

Robin and Starfire both gave big grins. "Wonderous! We may now begin our quest for Terra's revival!"

"Yeah, Star, this is awesome! We'll get this all nailed down. Let's go get Lightning and go!"

Starfire giggled as Robin grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the room. Soothsayer bowed her head and scratched it, blushing a bit. _"Pardon.__ You know how it is, correct, sir?"_

_"Indeed I do. You have something else to ask me about, my young foreign friend?"_

_"Yes…Would it be possible for the Titans to borrow Ikazuchi-san and Raiden-san? I fear that their help might be necessary when the prophecy comes to a head."_

_"Certainly, if they wish to.__ In fact, if your leader thinks it best, they may rejoin America's forces as members of your Titans. They do really seem to need comrades their own age."_

_"Thank you very much sir. You have been very helpful."_

_"We aim to keep Japan safe. Japan is part of the world."_

* * *

Beast Boy blew past the two ninja as he entered the weapons room, thinking frantically back to a conversation he had with Soothsayer in the car. _The tai chi sword is destined for me. What kind of sword is it? _He struggled to remember as he dodged shiruken in an ever-changing form. _Chinese, straight sword, light, flexible, one-handed, probably has a tassel on the pommel. Made for trapping an enemy sword, but can be used to kill. There!_

Beast Boy went elf, grabbing the sheathed blade off the wall and drawing the sword. The ninja drew their blades, one with a tanto and the other holding a ninja-to. The jade Titan grabbed the tip of his blade and bent it backwards, then lunged at the tanto-armed shadow warrior, releasing the sword tip as he went.

The flexible blade snapped back like a whip, the sharp tip opening up a deep gash on the ninja's face. Beast Boy brought the tai chi blade around to misdirect the other ninja's thrust, then used the blade's amazing speed to come around and stab the other ninja in the throat. As he spun, he brought the sheath up into the sword-wielding ninja's face, knocking him senseless. Before he could think better of it, Beast Boy finished the man with a slash across the throat. "Whoa." Beast Boy stared at the blade. "I guess I know why Kenkaku went so nuts after he killed that ninja lady." He noticed the green lacquer on the blade. "I've already seen this movie." He was holding Green Destiny.

He shook his head, sheathing the blade and grabbed the _nodaichi _off the wall for Cyborg. "It was nice to finally be a good fighter for once. Maybe Kenkaku can teach me how to use it non-lethally."

* * *

Cyborg cursed Beast Boy at every available moment he had. Which wasn't much. He had his hands full with keeping ninja away from the shrine and himself. Thunder was on his own, and nearly overrun.

"Catch!" Cyborg spun around and turned his arms back into hand mode, catching the _nodaichi_ slung his way.

He watched as Beast Boy plowed into the ninja with Green Destiny flashing. "Beast Boy, what the…"

"Use it!" yelled a preoccupied changeling.

"But…what?"

"There's no time! Use it! **YAH!**"****

That shout jarred Cyborg loose as he drew the _nodaichi_, dropping the sheath, and swinging it two-handed in a wide arc. Ninja flew back, spurting blood. Cyborg brought the great sword around in an overhand blow that split a shadow warrior in half. Thunder grunted as the ninja stopped assaulting him and rushed to aid the attack on the two Titans. Then he gasped as he saw the sword Cyborg was using. _"The sky shall tremble and the ground shall quake before the edge of the mighty Inousin-kai,"_ he breathed, reciting a prophecy about the sword. _I was guarding that? _He watched as the last of the ninja either fell to the legendary blades or, in one case, ran. He looked up as Beast Boy walked over to him. "Why did you use the blades, green one?"

Beast Boy smiled. "Duty and orders are fine most of the time, but every once in a while, a little well-thought out disobedience is the way to go. Besides, desperate times require desperate measures."

"I see."

"Hey guys! We got permission to take the weapons…HOLY HELL, WHAT HAPPENED HERE?" The shock was readily apparent in Robin's voice.

Beast Boy got an evil smirk on his face. "You know, a funny thing happened on the way to the shrine…"

* * *

Kenkaku rose slowly out of bed, feeling very refreshed. He changed clothes and put his swords on his belt, before walking out the door into a new day. He walked around the Tower, trying to find his jacket. _Maybe Raven-kun decided to mend it. _He walked to her room's door, and knocked on it.

No answer. _"Raven-kun?__ Raven-kun? Are you in there? Can I come in?"_

Still no answer. _I can't go in there, I might walk in on her changing! Not an entirely unpleasant thought… "Shut up, you." _He called again. _"Raven-kun?__ Can I come in? I'm looking for my jacket." _

Nothing more. Finally making up his mind, he opened the door a bit and poked his head in. What he saw made him slam the door over and blink-dash over to her side, without a sword in his hand.

Her room looked like a bomb had gone off, and she was right at ground zero, writhing in the grips of a nightmare. _"Raven!__ Raven!" _He cradled the girl's petite body in his arms and tried to sooth her. But she was having nothing of it, and wasn't waking up either.

_"Ker!__ Ker! You can't die! You can't go! You can't! Ker! No! Don't leave me! Don't leave me alone! KER! I LOVE YOU!" _Raven sat bolt upright in Kenkaku's arms, hyperventilating. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was in his arms.

It took him a few seconds to realize that he was still stroking her hair. He blushed and stopped.

_"Wh…what happened?"_ She took one of his hands on pure instinct.

_"I was looking for my jacket and I peeked in here. I got concerned and you were having a nightmare so…" _he trailed off. _"I'm not dying or leaving. Don't worry."_

_"Ker really is your name?"_

He nodded. _"Ker Selais. Though, it's mostly lost to time. I take it you read the fourth poem?"_

She hung her head. _"Yes. I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry."_

_"No, you saved me the trouble of battling with my emotions over whether to give it to you or not. Fighting one's emotions only results in imbalance and chaos."_

_"Then…"_

_"That really is how I feel."_

Raven cried. _"But we can never be together. My powers would go out of control and destroy everything." _They were already engulfed in a maelstrom of dark energy.She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, tears tracing damp lines down her face as she rested her forehead against Ker's. His eyes were streaming too.

_"Then please, at least allow me this."_ Tears flowing, Kenkaku pressed his lips against Raven's softly. She sighed slightly as she eased into the kiss, parting her lips slightly, inviting more. The inexperienced Ker stroked her hair as his tongue gently entered her mouth, hesitant and unsure. The two half-demons held each other tenderly close, bodies melding against one another as they expressed their love through their lips and tongues. The two prolonged the kiss, neither wanting it to ever end, neither aware of the complete lack of telekinetic storm, and neither aware of the full demon in human form sitting and watching them.

Finally, it had to end. The air in their lungs was only so much. Their eyes took in the lack of devastation as they reluctantly drew away from each other's gaze. _"What the…"_

_"Like your boyfriend said. Battling your emotions creates imbalance and chaos. While truly accepting them creates calm and serenity. You two could have saved yourselves a lot of grief if you'd figured that one out." _The demon stood up and drew his rapier. _"How's the leg wound, half-sister?"_

_"You!"___

_"Oh, don't be so mad. Your little tender moment would have never have happened with out me throwing you out of that helicopter. And I really hate to break this up, but my half-sister must come with me."_

_"The hell I must!"_ Raven's eyes glowed white and obsidian energy crackled around her fists.

_"You couldn't stop me before, you can't now. And with your boyfriend so hobbled, he can't do a thing either. You're coming with me no matter what. Your choice as to whether you're spitted on my rapier or not."_

Kenkaku's eyes flashed a brilliant silver-white, as bright as Kanesada's blade. _"Hobbled, am I?"_ His head turned and he fixed the demon with his gaze. The well-dressed demon in human form stumbled backwards. _"What's your name?"_

_"Junsa got to you, didn't he?" _He got a horrified look on his face as Kenkaku slowly nodded. _"That bastard!"_He calmed. _"My name is Duelist. But you will not fight me now."_

_"Oh, won't I?" _said Kenkaku in a deadly tone as he popped Kanesada from its saya and prepared to iaijutsu.

_"You may be faster than me, but my attack will still take your girlfriend's life."_ He smirked. _"Don't worry, you can get her back. All you have to do is kill an army of demons and my Lord. Come, dear half-sister."_

Kenkaku stood helpless as Duelist led Raven out of the room, rapier point under her chin. _"I'm going to carve that smirk right off your face."_

_"I look forward to it. We are in the desert, at the start of the cave system. You must wait a full 12 hours before approaching or she dies. Then, you are free to do whatever you want."_

Kenkaku didn't say anything, just standing there with flaming eyes, his body radiating power, his jaw clenched, and a look of pure hatred on his face. But as Raven was almost out the door, her view of him almost gone, his face changed to cold, lethal determination. His words rang out, strong and hard. She could feel Duelist's blade waver as he heard it. _"Challenge accepted."_

* * *

Blades flashed on the rooftop as Kenkaku counted down the hours till he could go to Raven safely. He drank nothing but a little tea, and accessed the main computer. Bringing up the topographical data, he saw that there was no approach but through a narrow canyon that widened out into an arena-like combat zone. His eyes narrowed as he pondered the best way through. There wasn't much to it but to fight straight through. He leaned back and looked around the room, his eyes falling on a cloak of Raven's that some grateful family had given to her. It was too long for her, even now, and was black. She never wore it, but she did keep it around. _Perhaps…_

* * *

__

On a gut feeling from Robin, the Titans, as well as Thunder and Lightning, were speeding home on an experimental cargo ship, which, while it had a small cargo hold, was impressively fast. So much so that an ocean crossing took only a convenient 12 hours. Robin stood at the glassed-in prow, unable to shake the ill ease that had come over him. He smiled slightly as he saw Starfire's reflection float up next to him. "Hey Star."

"Hello Robin." She landed next to him and grasped his hand, her thumb tracing patterns on his palm. "What is troubling you?"

"I just can't shake it, Star. I can't help but think something really bad is happening in Jump City."

* * *

Kenkaku watched as the last remaining seconds counted down on the watch he brought along. As soon as the second hand hit the twelve, he was up and walking through the canyon.

* * *

"Raven!? Kenkaku!?" called Robin as the Titans exited the elevator.

"They are probably 'making the out'."

"Starfire! That's my joke!" The Titans laughed, all except for Cyborg.

"Maybe not guys." He picked up a note with Kanji on the front. "Soothsayer, what do you make of this?"

Soothsayer took the note, and nodded at the cover. "It's from Kenkaku alright." She opened it and started reading, translating as she went. "Titans, a swordsman has taken Raven, to get me to fight someone. I do not know who, nor do I care. I am going to rescue Raven. My attack will begin at precisely 2007. Coordinates are on the computer. If you can, I ask that you help. If not, stay out of my way."

Robin gritted his teeth. "Why'd I have to be right? Cyborg, where is he?"

"I've downloaded the map. We can get most of the way there with the T-car and R-cycle."

"Good. Uh Soothsayer, no offense, but you'd probably best stay here."

"I know. Get going."

* * *

Robed cult members carrying nasty looking spears stood at the entrance to the arena. They joked among themselves as they kept watch.

"Think anyone's going to show?"

"They'd be insane to with the army the Lord has put together."

"Hey! Who's that?"

"What the?"

The cult members watched as a traveler walked down the canyon towards them. It was obvious that the drifter had been in the desert for a while. He wore a traveling cloak that was stained through with red clay and desert dust. The cult members tightened their grips on their spears as the man approached. "What are you doing here!?" yelled one.

"I understand there's a watering hole here and I'm quite parched. Be a pal and let me get a drink. Whaddya say pardner?"

"You can't come in here!" yelled the one who had queried him before, bringing his spear to the ready.

_"Chikushou."_A tape recorder flew out from under the cloak and hit the one prepared guard right between the eyes._ "**KIAI!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_The 'traveler's' eyes flamed sliver-white and his cloak blew away from his body, revealing that the cloak was totally pristine black on the inside, and was wrapped around a dark gray clad teen. Kanesada flashed out of its saya, cutting all of the guards in half with one fell swing. Kenkaku's blast of kiaijutsu annihilated the entryway to the arena, blowing the canyon wide open, scouring the arena with rock shrapnel. Blood soaked the canyon floor, and collected in vermillion pools. As the clouds of dust blew over them, strong enough to rip flesh from bone at close range, one thing was revealed to them.

A very pissed looking half-demon carrying Kanesada and Muramasa. _"WHO WANTS TO DIE!?"_Having delivered that line, he disappeared, and the dying began in earnest.

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Ninja-to: Ninja sword, single-edged, straight, and shorter than the katana.

Kusari-gama: Chain and sickle.

Shiruken: Literally "blade able to be held in one's palm". Most common type is the 'throwing star'.

Arigato gozaimasu: "Thank you very much."

Ikazuchi: "Thunder."

Raiden: "Lightning."

Tanto: Knife with katana-style blade and tsuba.

Saya: "Sheath."

Iaijutsu: "Art of the sword draw." Can also mean using the art.

Chikushou: "Beast(s)/Dammit."

Kiaijutsu: "Art of the projected soul."

* * *

That's the final part of Alone Time right there. Tune in next time for Endgame, in which the prophecy is fufilled. And please do review. I cherish each one.


	15. ENDGAME: Part 1

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Blades flashed and blood shot through the air. Demons and cult members were pulped by invisible waves of force. Some simply dropped dead. Others went flying or went to sleep, only to burst into a number of bloody chunks. Kenkaku shot through the battle, appearing ever so often, never staying still, always at least blurred. Cultists died as their sworn brothers stabbed them with twins of the weapons they held, trying to kill the elusive half-demon. In this whirling chaos of blades, blood, and quickly failing bodies, Kenkaku's face would have stood out, if it could have been seen. Despite his appearance when the dust clouds had revealed him, his visage now was one of set, deadly determination. He spun again, swords bared, sending broken bodies flying and ripping asunder others.

* * *

"That's the Shinobi alright!" yelled Cyborg as they blew down into the canyon past the ultrabike. "Through this canyon, then we'll get to where they've gotta be holding Kaku up." The half-android Titan clutched at Inousin-kai's saya. "I've got a feeling most, if not all of our powers will he worthless. "The blades will probably be the only effective weapons we have, outside of Thunder and Lightning's blasts." He looked over at Beast Boy, who was hugging Green Destiny in between his knees.

"Right." Beast Boy played with the tassle on the pommel.

"I hear you, Cy," said Robin from the R-cycle, his spear strapped on his back. Starfire hung on to his waist, her _naginata _worn similarly.

"I can see why Raven adopted such an unusual riding position!" she yelled.

"Please don't! They're roughly the same strength when it comes to the hero scale. You and I aren't. Don't worry Star, we're almost there!" They could see the opening to the arena. Suddenly a huge wave of cultist were blast off the ground, smashing into the rock walls. "At least, I thought they were!" Robin twisted the throttle and hit the boost. He shot ahead of the T-car and slid the bike into a knot of demons and cultist, bailing with Starfire. They ripped the polearms off their backs and set to work, Robin more expertly than the Tamaranian. The T-car announced itself with a volley of photon cannon fire that staggered but one demon. Beast Boy and Cyborg dove out of the car and went to work with blades, the legendary weapons doing far more than any energy weapons fire could do. Thunder and Lightning swooped in above the battlefield, raining sonic and electric death from the skies.

"By X'hal, these enemies are numerous!"

A humaniform demon with glowing eyes and two swords appeared in their midst. The Titans, acting on honed combat instincts, all attacked at the same time. The glowing-eyed demon's blades flashed and spun, deflecting all the Titan's attacks. His red-stained black cloak whirled around him. _"Matte!"___

"Kenkaku!?" yelled the Titans in shock.

_"Hai!"_The ronin blinked out, and the crowd of demons around them lost their front three ranks. Kenkaku blinked in again, and pointed towards the opening of the cave system with his swords.

Robin looked at the densely packed crowd of demons and cultists. "We can't cut through that!" He dodged a hack of an axe and impaled the cultist holding it, then ripped the spear out of the man. "God! Talk about having blood on our hands."

**_"KIAI!!!!"_** A focused force blast cleared the way to the cave's entrance quite succinctly. The Titans ran down it after Kenkaku, who was slowed down a bit by keeping the corridor open for his allies. Even so, he was having to move very slowly to let the others keep up. Ever since Junsa had taken the limiting enchantment off of Kanesada along with the force-only option, Kenkaku had grown exponentially more powerful, along with his blades. His speed was god-like, almost beating out the Flash's and his kiaijutsu was oppressively powerful, and quite easy, with nearly unlimited reserves. His body was tougher, stronger, more flexible. With gestures he formed the Titans into a defensive perimeter against the demons and their human worshippers. Suddenly, out of the maelstrom of battle, a very dangerous enemy presented himself.

_"A duel, you hybrid hafling!"_ Highlander jumped out from the cave, claymore ready.

Kenkaku spat at Highlander's feet, his spittle blowing up a huge dust cloud. _"Not worth my time." _Muramasa slammed into the man's gut, sending him flying him back into the stony walls of the arena as Kenkaku dashed into the cave.

Most any other demon would have been shattered by that blow. As Kanesada had grown more powerful, so had Muramasa. But Highlander was a Demon of the Stone, the toughest variety, as well as one of the strongest, if falling behind a Demon of the Power like his Lord.

He picked himself out of the crater he had made in the rock wall by slamming into it. "FINE THEN! I WILL HAVE HIS FRIENDS' HEADS!"

Robin looked at the claymore-wielding demon, then at the sea of cultists and lesser demons. "He's mine!" The Boy Wonder, martial artist supreme, lunged at the demon, spear spinning. **"YAH!"** Robin made the first attack of many.

* * *

_"Final obstacle before the main show, ronin."_ Duelist pulled out his rapier and also held a main gauche in his off hand. He brought his rapier to the classic ready position.

Kenkaku's expression flashed murderous. He put away Muramasa and sheathed Kanesada, preparing to iaijutsu. _"Come and die."_

"En guarde! **HAH!**" Duelist lunged at Kenkaku in what would be blindingly fast to anyone but a Speed Force user or a Demon of the Wind. One of the two sources of Kenkaku's demon blood had been descended from a Demon Lord of that variety.

Hence, Duelist's lunge was easily avoided. A quick iaijutsu could have opened Duelist's belly with no effort at all, but Kenkaku held back, waiting for another opportunity. As Duelist brought his rapier up for a hacking blow, Kenkaku got it.

Kanesada sang out of it's saya in a flash of light, the edge of the arc passing through his head. Kenkaku twisted his wrist and pulled the blade back, cutting edge bared again. This time, the flash of light was lower.

Blood sprayed as Duelist's mouth fell from his face, then soaked the room and Kenkaku as the ronin gutted the other demon like a fish, opening him from groin to base of throat. _"Obstacle!?__ That was merely fulfilling a promise."_

* * *

Highlander's claymore slammed into the ground, the force creating a crater. Robin backflipped away from the blow, panting. For the amount of abuse the demon could dish out and take, he was very fast. It didn't even come close to approaching Kenkaku, or even the ronin's old level, but he was nearly as fast as Robin, and seemingly tireless, even after sustaining no less than five puncture wounds of Robin's spear.

Robin's previous training with the bo was also proving to be a detriment as he was whacking the demon far too much when he should have been setting up for another stab.

It was frustrating. His enemy was soaking in blood from wounds that by all rights should have killed him. And Robin was fast running out of energy. He dodged yet another powerful swing of the claymore, the blade catching his cape. It might have been made of a polymerized titanium weave that was ten times stronger than steel, but it was fast becoming rather shredded, the claymore treating it like tissue paper.

Robin jabbed his spearhead into Highlander's elbow and twisted. The joint gave a hideous crack as the rotational force imparted on it by the enchanted weapon shattered it beyond repair. Robin's despairing look turned into a wolfish grin. He yanked the spear out roughly and had to suppress the urge to laugh in triumph as Higlander's arm dropped from the claymore and hung by his side. The claymore was made to be a two-handed weapon. Having only a single arm to work with would play merry hell with Highlander's combat effectiveness.

At least, it would have if he was a human. But he would be already dead if he was human. The claymore split the air as it came around in a flat arc that Robin just barely got the haft of the spear up in time to deflect. As it was, it sent him flying, dazed. His spear landed out of reach.

Highlander stalked over, bleeding, with a shattered limb, but still alive and malevolent. "I may die, but you will come with me." He raised the massive claymore with one arm and prepared to bring it down on Robin's defenseless neck. Suddenly blood spurted from Highlander's back and a sliver and black blur appeared. The demon staggered, and Robin took the opportunity to roll and grab his spear. Highlander took another abortive step forward, and the claymore swung down. Robin completed his roll, the claymore biting into his shoulder, and thrust the spear up in desperation.

The claymore caught in the rock of the canyon's floor. The spear's head jutted out the back of the demon's throat, the butt braced against the canyon floor. The demon, still insanely determined, swung its shattered arm like a club, only to lose it to the silver and black blur.

Robin gritted his teeth in pain and kicked the haft of the spear to the side, ripping the blade from Higlander's neck, finally killing the demon. He could do nothing but watch as the heavy corpse of the man fell towards him.

Suddenly a familiar arm wearing a gray bracer grabbed the demon and flung him away like a sack of mulch. Starfire hovered there with her _naginata _(the silver and black blur, he realized) in one hand, with a number of cuts on her body. "Are you unharmed, Robin!?"

He slid off the claymore and stood shakily. "Not quite, but I'll manage." He gripped the spear unconvincingly. "We can't keep this up much longer."

"Yes, I hope Friend Kenkaku accomplishes his objective soon."

"I'm beginning to wonder if that'll be enough."

* * *

Kenkaku stood in the opening to a large cavern. The place was lit by candles, but was so large that most of the space was in the dark. One place was very well lit though, surrounded by large candles. Raven was chained to a metal slab set into the rock. Her manacles seemed to have runes melded into them that glowed faintly every five seconds or so. Ker's heart pained to see Raven like that, but even more so, he was glad to see her alive.

_"Ker."_ He smiled to hear her voice, so different from when she spoke English or her chant. It was a far cry from the dead, flat tone she spoke in most of the time. Her Japanese voice was beautiful. He had never quite noticed that before, like he had not noticed the fact that she was wearing her hair longer than when he had found her washed up on a beach. Amazing what twelve hours of separation could do. He walked across the floor to Raven and went to kiss her.

_"Raven…"_

"FATHER DOESN'T APPROVE OF THIS RELATIONSHIP!" Kenkaku whirled around, eyes glowing and blades ready to face a red-skinned demon lord. Eight feet tall, with black markings on his body and white hair, his most distinctive feature was his four yellow eyes, the color of molten sulfur. He wore a ratty loincloth and silver bracers, but what worried Kenkaku the most was what was in his hands. A _wakizashi _gleamed in one hand while a short _bokken_ shone in the other. Both had very familiar hilts. "KANEMITU AND SUKEHIRO! THEY SHALL BE YOUR DOOM!"

Trigon.


	16. ENDGAME: Part 2

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English 

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Trigon jabbed Kanemitu, the wakizashi, at the male half-demon, only to have Kenkaku divert it and deliver a high kick to the demon lord's chin. The ronin took up a defensive stance in front of Raven. 

Trigon laughed in a voice that contained only malice. "FOOL! WHY WOULD YOU SEE NEED TO PROTECT HER!? I HAVE NO REASON TO KILL MY DAUGHTER!"

_"Let's just say you'll never understand, and leave it at that. What do you want with me?"_

"YOUR DEATH!"

_"Sorry, I just found a very good reason to live. How about -your- death?"_

"COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!"

_"I was afraid of that."_ Kenkaku's flaming eyes narrowed. The taunting was pissing Trigon off, but he wondered if it was even necessary. The red-skinned demon lord seemed to be the rage incarnate. _"Humor me for a second. What exactly does my death gain you?"_

"YOUR BLADES!"

_"Yeah, they're nice and all, but to a Demon Lord? Drops in the bucket."_

"FOOL! WITH ALL FOUR BLADES IN MY POSESSION, MY POWER SHALL INCREASE A HUNDREDFOLD! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE PROPHECY?"

_"Sure, why not?"_

Trigon roared. "INSOLENT WHELP! I SHALL FLAY YOU ALIVE!"

_"I don't like that idea. How about a duel?"_

"GLADLY, HALFLING!" Trigon charged at Kenkaku, swords trailing behind him. As he entered range, he swung them together in a scissors-like blow.

Ker jumped the blow and flipped over Trigon, kicking him in the back of the head before landing and hitting Trigon with a rising, kiaijutsu-reinforced slash of Muramasa that sent him flying into the ceiling. _"You aren't very fast."_ He cocked his head as Trigon fell from the ceiling. _"Or smart, for that matter." _Despite the cocky tone and words, Ker was hardly unalert. He was watching Trigon's fallen body like a hawk.

Which is why it was so surprising that he didn't have enough time to react to Trigon's rising sweep kick. He fell to the ground and just barely blurred out of the way of a double-stab to his chest. "NOT FAST, HAFLING!? I ABSORB PART OF THE POWER OF ANY BONDED DEMON WHO IS KILLED! I HAVE THE POWER OF TWO OF THE WIND AND ONE OF THE STONE TO SUPPLEMENT MY ALREADY GREAT POWER! YOU HAVE SIMPLY THE WIND AND THE SOUL!"

_"And Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu. I bet you've never even picked up a sword before, if the lousy skills of your army are any indication."_

Trigon attacked again, Kenkaku deflecting his blow and pushing him back with a wave of kiaijutsu. "WRONG AGAIN, WHELP! I CARVED MY POWER OUT FROM THE WARS WITH A PAIR OF DEMONBLADES! THEY LIE AGAINST THE THRONE!"

Kenkaku looked at the blades, which were a pair of swords that were a cross between the style of the Middle Eastern shamshir and the Chinese scimitar. They were long blades with the balance point about halfway along the blades. He smirked. The balance point and length was completely different from the blades Trigon was carrying now. _"Nice. I'll take them when I'm done with you."_

**"RRAUGH!"**Trigon smashed the hilts of his swords into the ground, sending a chasm racing through the ground to under Kenkaku, who jumped to the side before the fissure could swallow him. Trigon spun and shot four beams of sulfurous light from his eyes at the ronin, who caught them as he was landing.

The half-demon went flying into a wall, Raven's black cloak smoldering where it had taken the beams. Ker grimaced as he pried himself out of the shattered rock, eyes still flaming brilliant silver-white, and looked down at the cloak. _"That's a real shame."_

He blinked to in front of Trigon slashing sideways with Muramasa and up with Kanesada. Trigon blocked both attacks and locked blades, holding his opponent in place for another eyeblast, this one at point-blank range.

Kenkaku wasn't going to just sit and take this, though. Pulsing a wave of kiaijutsu force through his blades, he upset the blade lock and rattled Trigon's grip around some. He also threw up a hasty shield in front of his face.

But not even his desperate efforts let him avoid the blast completely. All he could do was lessen the force. The Demon Lord's attack hit him square in the face, the shield he had put up slightly attenuating the blow. Raven gasped as her love's head was engulfed in the yellow beams. Ker's body went flying backwards into yet another cave wall, rock tumbling down on top of him. His legs and hands, still clutching his swords, stuck out of the rubble pile.

"RATHER ANTICLIMATIC," laughed Trigon. "A FOREGONE CONCLUSION. NO HALF-DEMON COULD EVER BEST TRIGON!"

Raven hung her head. Kenkaku would have to be shattered by that blast. Her father was the most powerful demon in existence, and Ker had never been especially tough. Trigon had won. _"No…"_

A bright flash of silver-white light sent rubble flying. _"Don't worry Karasu-chan. I'm not nearly so frail as I used to be." _He stood from where landed, bruised, cut up, the cloak tattered, jacket ripped, but still fighting fit. _"Right Trigon, let's go! It's time for you to die!"_ His eyes, already burning silver-white, flared to an almost blinding light.

Trigon laughed and held up an empty hand. Black ravens with four red eyes flew out of his palm. "I SPAWNED HER ONCE, I CAN SPAWN HER AGAIN!"

_"Hardly the same thing,"_ grunted Ker as he ripped the pitch-black birds to shreds with Kanesada. _"Lacks the human touch."_ He killed the last of the birds with Kanesada then staggered Trigon with a bolt of kiaijutsu.

Pressing his advantage, he dashed forward and slashed with Kanesada at Trigon. The Demon Lord, unable to bring either of his swords up in time to parry, jumped back, but not fast enough. A gout of red flew from his chest as Kanesada's tip carved a line across Trigon's pectorals. "WHAT!?" Trigon looked down in disbelief.

_"First blood. Guard up!"_ Trigon barely looked up in time to see Kenkaku's two-handed jump-slash. Ker had stowed Muramasa and had both hands on his killing sword. Trigon just barely had time to get Sukehiro under the attack. As it was, the force of the attack was enough that Kanesada actually cut into the Demon Lord's shoulder.

Trigon smirked though the pain. He had a perfect opening for a bisecting slash with Kanemitu. He roared and put all of his strength behind the blow. Kanemitu slammed into Kenkaku with a clacking sound.

_"Ugh, that's going to leave a wicked bruise, bet your ass." _Kanemitu had hit Kanesada's sheath, which Ker has positioned to take the blow. **_"KIAI!"_** Kenkaku pulsed the wave of kiaijutsu through Kanesada, bypassing the Demon Lord's tough skin and sending the force straight through the wound into his shoulder.

With an indescribable, but sickening sound, the force wave smashed Trigon's shoulder joint. But Kenkaku had put a -lot- into this one. It didn't stop there. The force wave shattered all the bones in Trigon's left arm, and pushed them, and all the flesh and muscle, into his forearm and hand. The skin of his fore arm and skin deformed and bulged, in some places ripping as a bone fragment poked out.

With no resistance from the mangled limb, Ker and Kanesada fell to the ground, the enchanted katana's blade easily separating what at one point had been a powerful limb from the torso. Blood spurted from the shattered stump, empty skin acting like a short hose.

Trigon bellowed in pain and kicked the crouching ronin in the face, sending him flying -through- the stone throne and landing in a dazed heap. The Demon Lord spat at the half-demon swordsman before a surge of pain made him drop to his knees. Trigon stabbed Kanemitu into the rock and grabbed the short amount of empty skin, ripping it off. As the dazed Ker and captive Raven looked on in amazement, Trigon cauterized the wound with his eyeblast and picked up Kanemitu again. "ENOUGH!"

Ker climbed to his feet and fell into _chudan-no-kamae_. The trip through the throne had done quite a bit of damage to him. A shard of rock was stuck in his back, the cloak and his jacket were shredded and soaked in blood, though most of it was others'. Long rips decorated his pants, with matching shallow gashes underneath. Blood covered half his face from a cut at his hairline. His long hair was half in and half out of the tie. He was beat and bruised, but his eyes were still a blinding silver-white, and Kanesada was rock-steady. **_"KIAI!"_** He stood up straighter and showed no signs of pain.

"NO NEED FOR THAT. YOU HAVE DONE VERY WELL. WELL ENOUGH THAT I WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST PROPOSITION I HAVE EVER GIVEN ANY DEMON, HALF OR FULL."

Kenkaku stood frozen in _chudan_.

"I WISH TO TAKE YOU ON AS A GENERAL, NON-BONDED. YOU WILL HAVE MY DAUGHTER, RAVEN, AND CONTROL OF AN ARMY OF DEMONS BONDED TO YOU. I SHALL ALSO GIVE YOU THIS SECTOR OF SPACE TO RULE ONCE WE CONQUER IT. ALL I ASK FOR IS YOUR SWORDS. I SHALL GIVE YOU MY CONTRACT AND MY OLD BLADES."

Raven gasped. That was an extremely good deal. In effect, Trigon was offering Demon Lord status to Kenkaku, a half-demon, in exchange for his allegiance and his swords. Not to mention giving Ker his extremely treasured set of demonblades And if Trigon gave his contract, the deal was unbreakable for Trigon. Ker still had the option of breaking it, but considering the contract meant protection from Trigon, he would have no reason to. And she would be at his side, though she doubted she could love him if he took the deal. "DO WE HAVE A DEAL?"

Kenkaku dug in his jacket's miraculously undamaged pocket and fished something out, holding it up for Trigon and Raven to see. It was his Metahuman Vigilante Registration Card. _"See this? It's proof that I'm a card-carrying -hero-! I REFUSE!"_ With that, he blink dashed at Trigon.

The Demon Lord roared and stabbed forward with Kanemitu. Blood spurted from the gash in Kenkaku's side that that was opened by Kanemitu's edge. Had Kenkaku dashed to straight in front of Trigon, the blade would have sticking through his stomach, most likely severing his spine. As it was, the attack had opened a deep wound, but not a fatal one.

Trigon was not so lucky. Ker brought Kanesada around in a one-handed flat arc that separated the Demon Lord's head from his shoulders. As the head jumped off of Trigon's shoulders on the spray of blood from the corpse's neck, the half-demon grabbed the long white hair of his opponent's hair, snatching the demon's head out of mid-air. _"May the Lord reign no more,"_ he spat in the face of his dead enemy.

He threw Trigon's head to the ground and gathered up Kanemitu and its saya, taking Trigon's sword belt. The ronin cleaned the blades and resheathed them, then turned around and walked over to Raven.

Kanemitu made short work of the manacles. _"Hey."_ Ker gave Raven a soft smile, his eyes finally losing their silver-white glow. _"I'm really sorry and everything, but the pattern looks to be…"_

Raven cut him off with a passionate kiss. _"Then I'd better get that in before you pass out again,"_ she crooned as she broke off the kiss.

_"I don't think I will be. I have ki to spare again."_ He smiled a broad smile as he took her in his arms. _"Much more enjoyable than meditation."_ His last kiaijutsu technique cut off and he felt the wound in his side finish healing. He looked down to see Raven with a mixture of a grimace and a look of bliss on her face. _"Stop, I'll be fine."_ He kissed her on the forehead. _"We need to help the others."_

Raven nodded and grabbed Sukehiro, Trigon's old blades, and Trigon's decapitated head with her telekinesis, which the runes on the manacles had disabled until Ker had set her free. The demonblades she placed in Ker's belt without incident, and the head plopped onto the ground in front of them easily, but when Sukehiro came close to the other swords…

'FLASH!'

When the light died down, Muramasa and Sukehiro had turned into perfect copies of Kanesada and Kanemitu, respectively. Raven was wearing Kanemitu and Sukehiro, and glowing kanji was in the air.

_The Prophecy is done. The forces of Good have triumphed. The ronin has transformed the swords. His limited speech is no longer. Love has been found, and the soul mates each wear a set of blades. Blessings be upon you, warriors. Though you will no longer have the power you had to defeat this great enemy, you will not be the same. Use this power to do the duty that you know you must do._

Raven looked down at the swordbelt around her waist. _"Soul mates?"_

Ker nodded. _"I guess so. Soothsayer-san was right."_

_"You knew?"_

_"I was told, but I didn't believe. But looking back on it, it was a foregone conclusion."_

_"Yes, it was." _They kissed again. _"Now how are you going to save the others? You aren't nearly as powerful as you were when you killed my father."_

_"Oh, I think I have a way."_

* * *

The Titans' defensive perimeter shrunk as the demonic army pressed its advance. None of the Titans had escaped wounding or damage of some kind. One of Cyborg's arms was snapped off and mangled and one of his legs was dragging. Scratches decorated his armor and he had a cut on the fleshy side of his face. Beast Boy's jumpsuit was shredded with matching cuts underneath. One of his ears was missing an inch off the tip and his hair was matted with blood. Thunder and Lightning had been beaten unconscious by a group of cultists before Robin and Starfire had managed to rescue them when they made the mistake of flying too low. Starfire's hair had been hacked raggedly short and she was bleeding green Tamaranian blood from a number of minor wounds. Streaks of emerald blood ran from the corners of her eyes and her ears as she had been too close to an explosion, one of the few in the battle. And Robin was already hurt from his fight with Highlander. He had picked up more of the same wounds. His footwork was lagging, and only one arm could really be called combat-effective. 

"We can't keep this up much longer!" yelled Beast Boy, who was surprisingly one of the more effective fighters.

"Just keep going!" replied Robin, "And hope Kenkaku knows what the hell he's doing!"

**"STOP!"** roared an unfamiliar voice with a heavy accent. The battle froze and everyone looked at the cave's entrance.

Kenkaku came floating out of it on obsidian wings of power, eyes flaming, Trigon's head held high, and a bloody demonblade in the other hand. **"I HAVE SLAIN THE MOST POWERFUL DEMON LORD! FLEE, OR YOU ARE NEXT!"**

The army fled through portals, running, and outright suicide in some cases. Kenkaku smirked as the last portal closed. _"Right Raven, it's all good."_

Raven stepped out from the cave's mouth, eyes glowing and one hand wreathed in her obsidian energy. She cut off the spell and Kenkaku landed lightly, flicking the blood off the demonblade and sticking it in his belt. Beast Boy was first to speak. "Whoa. Is that…Tri…Trigon's head?"

_"Hai._ Ugly mug, isn't it?" The silver-white glow faded from his eyes.

"You can say that again, Kaku," said Cyborg, patting the half-demon on the shoulder with his one remaining good arm. Wait! You can speak English!"

_"Hai."_

Beast Boy's face lit up. "Dude! Say something in English!"

_"Kotowaru."_

"Duuuude!" whined Beast Boy, "We've heard nothing but Japanese out of you! Something else, man!"

_"Now that's not true…"_ Kenkaku smirked, _"Shua. _Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." Raven and Kenkaku laughed.

"What the hell?" asked Beast Boy and Cyborg in stereo

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming," translated Robin, who was smirking also. "You actually memorized that chant?"

_"Un."_

Raven smiled. "I believe we customarily celebrate right about now."

Starfire gave a downcast look. "A glorious idea, but I think we all need time in the bay of medicine."

The Titans all nodded. Kenkaku shrugged. "I'll cook, if everyone agrees once and for all to stop badgering me about the Japanese. I don't like speaking English." His voice had a very heavy Japanese accent, but he could pronounce 'l's easily enough.

"Fine by me," said Robin as he winced and grabbed at his side. The Titans walked off to their transports back to the tower, their fallen in tow.

* * *

_"I see that the prophecy is done in the best possible way," _said Soothsayer as Kenkaku taught Raven to make sushi, swords resting together on the counter. 

_"I can't think of anything much better than this,"_ replied Raven as she tried her hand at cutting the fish.

_"Don't want to know about it either,"_ added Kenkaku.

_"Heh. Well, it seems that a new prophecy will be starting, and despite what I told Beast Boy-san, it won't be the Prophecy of the Dust Maiden."_

_"Oh? Just so you know, I am really not up for another prophecy right now,"_ said Kenkaku. He had been healed by Raven as they kissed outside the medbay as soon as the others went in. The pain incurred by her healing power was phantom pain of damage done to her _ki_ self, so if it was getting a new boost…it just took a little time. Time that they were happy to give. So happy to give that Kenkaku's formidable ki reserves were topped off.

_"While you are involved…well, hopefully, that is. Whatever. It does not focus on you."_

_"Oh?" _asked Raven.

_"It focuses on your half-sister, Raven-san. Her and Cyborg-san."_

_"Who?" _asked both the half-demons.

_"Your half-sister. No demon blood it would seem. I don't know anything more than that."_

_"I didn't know I had a half-sister."_

_"Well, we'll meet her soon enough,"_ said Ker. _"But in the meantime, we have a party to set up."_

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. The Prophecy of the Wind Soul Warrior is done. But there's still a chapter or two left, and as you might guess, a sequel or two in the works. Hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it and I also hope to see your reviews for the next one. J_a na._

--Kai Reased, The Rei Ronin


	17. Partytime: Ends and Beginnings

This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.

* * *

Waves of Fate

* * *

"text": spoken English

"_text_": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)

"**text**": war cry, English

"**_text_**": war cry, Japanese.

_text_: Thoughts

-text-: stressed word

text: printed or typed English

_text_: printed or typed Japanese

'text': sound effect

Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

The Titans, including the now-conscious Thunder and Lightning, cheered as Kenkaku acted out his fight with Trigon with a pepperoni stick covered in blue mold. He finished with a flourish, leaving out the whole soul mates and kissing part, then looked at the pepperoni stick. _"You know, if I had this the fight would have been over in one blow. This thing is far more deadly than Kanesada!" _Raven did the honors translating and everyone chugged Dr. Pepper and stuffed their faces with sushi, which according to Thunder and Lightning was: 'on par with a master's craft'.

Raven sipped green tea and smiled as Kenkaku tossed the pepperoni stick away and flopped down next to her, grabbing her hand sneakily after cleaning his hand with a very strange application of kiaijutsu.

Cyborg hauled out a couple of metal DDR pads and stuck DDR Max into the Gamestation. "Right dawgs! Who thinks they've got the moves?" He looked out at a smirking room. "No powers."

The room's evil smile quota dropped rather quickly. Beast Boy stood up. "I'll show you all what this is about. Gimme some time to get up to speed." He selected light mode and chose Dark Black Forest (Short Trip).

The changeling barely made it through, sweating and winded. "Whoo. I'm out of practice. Someone want to take over?"

Raven gave Ker a little telekinetic nudge towards the pads. _"Hey!"_

_"Go for it, koishii." _She gave him a more noticeable TK push.

Cyborg laughed as Kenkaku walked towards the pad reluctantly. "And the whipped boyfriend takes the stage!" The swordsman grabbed Green Destiny, which was lying on the table, unsheathing it and whipping Cyborg upside the head with the flat of the blade.

_"Arigatou, Beast Boy-san.__ I am not whipped." _Thunder and Lightning gasped. _"Me and my big mouth," _he groaned. He flicked his thumb against Kanesada's tsuba. The two shut up.

Raven smiled and stood up wrapping her arms around the ronin. "While Kenkaku is not whipped, he is my boyfriend."

The cheer was deafening. Starfire was first over by virtue of her flight, scooping the two up in a crushing hug. "GLORIUS! I must make a Pudding of Celebration!"

Most of the Titans grimaced. Robin shook his head. "This one is good, guys. Congrats, you two. Star, you might want to give them some air."

The half-demons finally got their much needed breaths, their faces going back to the standard color. Soothsayer gave Kenkaku a superior smile. _"Perhaps you will trust my prophecies in the future?"_

_"Hai, Soothsayer-sama," _replied Kenkaku with a large dose of sarcasm.

Cyborg picked himself up from the floor, having been knocked down by Green Destiny's force. "Great! Am I right to assume that the Japan trip is canceled?"

The room froze and the Titans got horrified looks on their faces, none more so than Raven. She had not talked to Ker about that. The tense second was the worst experience of Raven's life.

_"Hai._ I would like to request full membership as a Titan, though I have one matter out of town to take care of first."

"YOU'RE IN!" yelled all of the full Titans, outside of Raven, who, hearing the best news of her life outside of the fact that he did love her, threw poise to the winds and leapt up in his arms, kissing him so fiercely that she actually knocked him over.

_"Ah, Karasu-chan,"_ mumbled Kenkaku as they broke off for air, _"Talk about your warm welcomes."_ He stroked her hair before they both realized where they were and frantically stood up.

"While we're at it," said Robin, "Soothsayer, you are free to join under full status as well."

The blonde smiled. "Many thanks, but I think it best that I stay in at most an honorary role."

The Boy Wonder shrugged. "Have it your way, but if you would listen to the communicator?"

"Of course. And I'll keep it secret from the people at school too." At the room's weird looks she shrugged. "What? It's not like every teen saves the world every other day. I'm only 17 and not a dropout." She smirked. "Though my teachers probably do wonder where I've been for the past few weeks."

Beast Boy scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, we're sorry about that."

Robin turned to Thunder and Lightning. "What about you two?"

Thunder bowed his head. "We must also decline. Though our handler did grant us the freedom to join, we both have acts to repent for, and being in the service of a country is a good thing. Perhaps in the future. Who can say?"

"Besides," added Lightning, "Japan has very few heroes. We are needed. But this party should serve as a good going-away present! Get that swordsman up on the pads!"

The metahumans chuckled and pushed the half-demon up onto the pad. _"Matte, matte.__ I can get up here by myself. _Now, I'm several years out of practice, but I'll see what I can do." He drew his now dual katana and selected Sandstorm.

"Sword dancing?"

_"Why not?"_The song started and Kenkaku stated a smooth gliding motion with the swords as he hit the pads. The blade speed sped up as the song did, the blades freezing during freeze arrows. His hair spun as he did, moving to the beat of the song. Near the end of the song, he spun, alternating feet and swords to tap the pads.

The Titans watched in amazement as the score was toted up. Cyborg remembered a few figures. "Dawg, that was a flawless run. I thought you said you were out of practice."

Kenkaku sheathed the swords. _"Hai._ Guess some things never leave you."

"Huh?" asked Beast Boy.

"I used to make money in DDR tournaments . That was an old routine of mine."

"Muscle memory, huh?" asked Robin. Kenkaku simply shrugged. "Alright, let me in."

The half-demon abandoned the pad to Robin, who selected PARANOiA EVOLUTION.

And they though Kenkaku was good. Robin had chosen a substantially more difficult song, and his routine was even more involved.

_"And people like Robin-san were why I gave that up. People loved the swordwork but I'm only okay."_

"You been practicing, Robin?" asked Beast Boy.

"Yep. I have to wait for the late-night digital sword duels to end, though."

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked over at Kenkaku and Raven who merely shrugged. "You two?"

Again, more shrugs. "Speaking of sword duels," said Kenkaku in his heavily-accented English. "I can teach a little _kenjutsu_ if we're going to keep the enchanted weapons. I don't have much polearm training, but I can help."

Robin nodded. "Good idea. You could probably benefit from a little bare-hands combat training, too."

_"Shua._ We can start as soon as I get back."

Starfire finally spoke up. "Where are you going?"

"I made a promise to visit my _sensei _if I ever completed a prophecy. I have to do that. Should be a pretty quick trip. No more than a week, round trip."

"Okay," said Robin. "I assume you'll go tomorrow?"

_"Hai."___

"Raven?"

"I'll be going too, assuming Kenkaku doesn't have any objections." She gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back.

_"None at all."___

"Well then, let's enjoy the party before you head off."

The Titans were all nodding when a jade gorilla pulled a machine with a microphone attached to it. He morphed back to elf and cupped his hands around his mouth. "KARAOKE TIME!"

The teenaged metahumans partied long into the night, singing, playing, dancing, and eating. They had earned it. And for a while there would be peace. But soon a new prophecy would start, and the Titans would have their hands full again.

But for now, the heroes could be, despite their powers, normal.

**WAVES OF FATE: END**

* * *

Important authors note, please read.

* * *

Japanese Flavor Text:

Koishii: "Beloved."

Arigatou: "Thank you."

Hai: "Yes."

Karasu-chan: "Little Raven." Kenkaku's pet name for Raven.

Matte, matte: "Stop, stop."

Shua: "Sure."

* * *

A/N: Well, that's it, the end of Waves of Fate. Stay tuned for the next story, tentatively titled Rolling the Dice.

Also, I've been thinking about starting a C2 community dedicated to the stories set in this Titans universe. If other authors would like to write using my universe, they are welcome to, providing they talk with me about it, and I am given rights to use your characters (with consultation) and plotlines in the overarching storyline.

I think it might be possible to create a multi-author Titans universe of rather high quality. Please e-mail me if you are interested in this idea or have something to say.


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